Gender Gap Smallest Since 2000
Tech Salaries Highest Since Survey Began
Hardest Hit Areas Showing Signs of Recovery
NEW YORK, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Dice Inc., the leading job board for
technology professionals, today released results of the Dice 2003 Annual
Salary Survey. The survey of more than 21,000 technology professionals
details key industry trends including the first narrowing of the gender gap
since the survey originated in 2000, a recovery of salaries that were hit
hardest last year and significant salary growth for entry-level technology
workers.
Overall, tech salaries recovered this year to the highest level since
2000, with the average salary increasing 2% from $67,900 in 2002 to $69,400 in
2003. For the second year in a row, government and defense salaries showed
the largest gains, increasing $2,600 (4%) to $64,600. Salaries in the
computer hardware industry, one of the hardest hit industries in the downturn,
also increased 4% to $57,900.
Gender Gap
For the first time since Dice began conducting the salary survey in 2000,
the gender gap decreased -- narrowing to 11% -- as women's salaries increased
5% to $62,800 and men's increased only 2%. Spending more time at the office
helps -- women who reported working over 55 hours a week earned only 7.5% less
than men. The gap also varied significantly by industry, as women's salaries
ranged from 3% less than men's in the Internet services industry to 19% less
in the medical and pharmaceutical fields (see Table 2). Other significant
findings include:
* When segmenting by age, women over 50 had the largest gap, earning
13.5% less than their male counterparts.
* The gender gap remained lowest (8%) in the Mountain region and was
highest in the south and mid-Atlantic states (15%).
* Programmer analyst, applications developer and project manager were the
three most common titles for women.
Skills and Titles
Network and MIS manager positions had the largest increases over the past
year, gaining 7% and 5%, respectively. Both positions have seen steady salary
growth since 2001. The highest paying titles remained identical to last year:
IT management was at the top at $104,000 with project management following at
$88,300. Systems developer ($83,200) and software engineer ($81,400) were the
top paying non-management titles.
Top paying skills include SAP and Peoplesoft. Full-time workers with
these skills reported earning $81,200 and $78,600, respectively. Full-time
tech workers with experience in Unix and C/C++, the two skills most requested
by employers on the Dice site, reported earning $75,200 and $72,400,
respectively.
Age & Experience
Earning power tended to increase with age until age 50, after which
salaries declined about 2% to $78,800. After holding steady from 2001 to
2002, workers over 50 witnessed a salary decline of 4% ($3,500) in 2003. On
the other hand, entry-level salaries are starting to show signs of improvement
as workers with less than two years of technology experience saw their
salaries increase 3% from 2002.
Geography
Salaries in the top paying tech cities remained consistent with last year,
with four of the top five areas' average salaries varying by less than $1,000.
While Silicon Valley, Boston and New York have been hit hard by the tech
slowdown, these regions have remained in the top five for tech salaries and
experienced modest growth in 2003 with salaries of $87,700, $78,600, and
$76,300, respectively. These metro areas have also seen an increase in job
postings on Dice with Silicon Valley jobs up 8.2% and Boston jobs up 16.7%
since this time last year.
"The technology market has stabilized and salaries are beginning to
recover overall," said Scot Melland, president and CEO of Dice Inc. "Some
segments are doing especially well; average salaries for women, for example,
have recovered faster as evidenced by the narrowing of the gender gap. Entry
level technology professionals are also earning more money, which is
consistent with an economic turnaround."
Users can log on to http://marketing.dice.com/rateresults to search for
specific salary information based on location, job function, skills and
education. Dice.com currently lists more than 32,000 permanent, contract and
consulting jobs nationwide for a wide variety of positions from programmers,
software engineers and system administrators to CIOs and other technology
professionals.
Information for the Dice Salary Survey Report was collected from over
21,000 Dice.com visitors between January and December of 2003.
About Dice Inc.
Dice is the leading online recruitment service for technology
professionals. With a 13-year track record of leadership in the technology
recruiting sector, our vertical industry focus and exposure to the largest
tech-centric audience on the web foster a talent marketplace where employers
reach hard-to-find, experienced and uniquely qualified technology
professionals. Dice helps those professionals advance their careers with
access to the best job opportunities and the inside track on employment trends
in the technology sector. For additional information please visit
http://www.dice.com.
Table 1: Tech Salaries 2000 - 2003
2000 2001 2002 2003
Overall Average $65,200 $68,400 $67,900 $69,400
Computer Hardware $51,000 $55,700 $55,600 $57,900
Government / Defense $56,600 $57,900 $62,000 $64,600
Table 2: Percent Women earn less than men by Industry, 2003
Internet Services -3%
Computer Software -10%
Computer Hardware -11%
Bank / Financial / Insurance -12%
Telecommunications -12%
Manufacturing -14%
Government / Defense -16%
Medical / Pharmaceutical -19%
Table 3: Average Salary by Age, 2003
18-24 $43,400
25-29 $58,600
30-39 $73,500
40-49 $80,100
50 and over $78,800
Table 4: Top Metro Area Salaries, 2001 - 2003
2001 2002 2003
Silicon Valley $87,700 $86,800 $87,700
New York $80,800 $78,000 $78,600
Boston $79,100 $75,600 $76,300
SOURCE Dice Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.dice.com
CONTACT:
Company, Susan Simcox, Public Relations
Manager of Dice Inc., pr@dice.com; or Media, Stephanie Sampiere
of Financial Dynamics, +1-212-850-5600, ssampiere@fd-us.com, for
Dice Inc.
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