Technology Wages Drop 3.1% in Fourth Quarter
PHILADELPHIA, February 4, 2003 - Hourly wages for technology workers dropped 3.1% in the fourth quarter of 2002 as compared with the same period of 2001, according to the Yoh Index of Technology Wages.
The national index decreased 2.44 points to 101.62. Pay for information
technology (9.7%) and telecommunications (8%) workers dropped most, while wages for engineering talent were flat. Pay rates for employees in the aviation market were highest, growing by 7.8% over 2001, while scientific workers' wages rose by 6.7%.
"We continue to see an uneven market for wages across the United States," says Lawrence M. Suwak, President of Yoh Company. "We are still seeing cautious hiring patterns in all regions, and with the exception of limited pharmaceutical sectors and segments of the aircraft maintenance market, wages remain soft."
Month-to-month, the Yoh Index of Technology Wages dropped six times in 2002, compared to nine decreases in 2001.
Demand for highly skilled scientific specialists in the fields of bioinformatics, validation and process engineering is strong throughout the United States. "While overall demand has decreased slightly in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device markets," says Scott Stanton, Market Development Manager for Yoh Scientific, one of the company's service offerings, "companies continue to staff aggressively for clinical research as they attempt to beef up their product pipelines."
The same holds true regionally. Although the overall employment picture remains uneven in Southern California, wages in some sectors remain strong. "Some of the scientific and biotech markets appear more dynamic, with wages up nearly 20 percent over last year, primarily due to increased usage of clinical talent," says Michael D. Parente, Regional President for Yoh Company. "Demand is offsetting continued weakness in the IT and telecommunications sectors. Engineering wages have remained stable for the past year."
A buyer's market continues with softness across the information technology
sector, particularly in web development and systems and network analysts. Demand still remains strong for applications help desk support, process analysts and testing personnel.
The Yoh Index of Technology Wages complements research distributed earlier this year by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), which
discovered that the domestic IT workforce shrunk in 2002. Also, a recent Meta
Group report found that IT worker hours are down by 8% since 2000.
About Yoh Index of Technology Wages
The Yoh Index of Technology Wages is based on a quarterly sample of the
temporary technology labor pool being utilized by more than 1,000 businesses in the aviation, engineering, IT, manufacturing, scientific, telecommunications and utility communities. This quarterly sample encompassed more than 5,000 technology workers. The Yoh Index of Technology Wages provides a unique barometer of the changes in employer demand and supply of technology talent nationwide. While the Yoh Index of Technology Wages covers a broad number of companies, it is not intended to be an exhaustive survey of employment activity.