Despite its reputation of being ageist and sexist, a
recent salary survey shows that critics of the IT industry might be
wrong, says Viv Andrews.
The IT industry has taken a few knocks to its reputation
of late. Commentators have accused the sector of being ageist and
sexist and of paying rapidly decreasing
salaries.
But our latest research shows that women aged above 36 who are
working in IT are likely to be some of the top earning women in
their sector.
These latest findings are sourced from more than 70,000 individuals
from 750 UK companies which registered with Pay-Finder.com.
Registrants anonymously enter their salary details to obtain a
detailed report on how their salary compares with others.
According to data collected from PayFinder members:
- IT is the most lucrative sector, with a higher average salary
than the banking and finance industry
- The top industries for women in terms of salary are IT, the
internet, e-commerce, new media and marketing
- These sectors pay some of the highest salaries to people aged
36 and over.
With an average salary of above £28,000, IT tops the list of
highest paying industries, followed by banking and finance,
telecommunications, new media and advertising.
Web development and design roles are by far the most abundant in
new media, and chief executive and director roles average a salary
of £52,000, about 11% higher than the average director's
salary.
IT support roles are the most popular. IT director roles are the
least common, with just 1% of members occupying the post, although
some receive more than £80,000. A gender divide still exists across
all industries, with women earning 23% less than men. However, in
IT and new media this drops to 17% and, in some roles, women are
paid more. For example, female web developers earn 27% more than
men in the same position.
For both the 36-40 and 41-50 age brackets, new media is the highest
paying sector, where 36 to 40-year-olds can expect to earn 44% more
and 41 to 50-year-olds earn 58% more than the average salary. As a
comparison, our study shows that 21 to 25-year-olds working in IT
earn just 13% more than the national average.
Although the industry has been accused of ageism, our statistics
suggest that the younger age groups are in the minority and that
the sector is keen to reward experience.
What do you think?
Do these statistics reflect your own experience?
Tell us in an e-mail >>
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Viv Andrews is a business development manager
at PayFinder.com