Salaries for information and communications technology (ICT) professionals continue to fall, reaching their lowest point in seven years, according to the latest Australian Computer Society (ACS) salary survey.
Salaries rose by an average of 4 per cent over the 12 months to May 2002, down from an average of 5.1 per cent the previous year and the lowest increase recorded since 1995 when the ACS remuneration survey began.
The survey of 1200 ACS members confirm what we all know, that 'depression' conditions are continuing.
ACS national president Richard Hogg said salary increases were higher for ICT professionals working in the private sector (4.2 per cent), compared to 3.5 per cent in the public sector.
In 2001-2002 ICT professionals earned total packages ranging from $61,405 for those in teaching and training positions up to $160,717 for those in sales and marketing management roles.
The survey also found that programmers and analysts typically possess skills across a range of applications with nearly two-thirds reporting skills in five languages. The most common were SQL (66 per cent and Windows NT (64 per cent), although Cobol skills attracted the highest remuneration.
One in six of all respondents said they worked as independent contractors, with hourly rates ranging from $60 to $100 per hour, depending on the nature of the work.
As the economy picks up, Hogg said there will be moderate increases, but probably not to the extent seen in the past.
| Position | Salary |
| Sales and marketing | $160,717 |
| General management | $160,782 |
| Research and development | $119,853 |
| Consulting | $117,994 |
| Project management | $111,498 |
| IT management | $118,590 |
| Project leader | $97,834 |
| Systems management | $85,674 |
| Database administrator | $83,399 |
| Research & teaching | $79,706 |
| Analysis & testing | $77,625 |
| Programmer/analyst | $73,060 |
| Computer support | $68,982 |
| LAN manager | $64,468 |
| Teaching/training only | $61,405 |