The Immediate Impact on Tech Salaries with the Recent Challenges Brought on By 2020 and 2021.
Note: This is an excerpt from Motion's 2022 Tech Salary Guide. To see the full report with salary data from over 120 job titles, Click Here.
The IT job market has experienced growth unlike other industries, at 4.79 million US tech-sector jobs in 2021, it has exceeded its all-time peak of 4.76 million from March 2020 before the pandemic hit. The number of IT jobs on the market has increased every month in 2021, even doubling by August.
Following the hiring freezes of 2020, product innovation, digital transformation and rapid growth in the industry has prompted a surge of tech job openings in 2021; this has meant unparalleled demand and competition for talent both on the market and off. While tech adoption and expansion has spiked demand, only 40% of companies hired tech staff last year, but 66% plan to add more by the end of 2021. With the ongoing Delta variant concerns, the need for more secure remote work environments and digital channel expansion, like telehealth and curbside grocery pickup, continues to inflate salaries for the most in-demand tech skillsets.
In 2021, tech salaries rose globally by 6.2% on average, with 4 out of 10 IT employees seeing an increase in compensation even during a rollercoaster of a year. In addition to industry increases, many tech workers have seen their salary go further in the remote world by moving to less expensive cities, saving up to 24% of their rent money and up to $11,000 per year in commuting costs by working from home.
Furthermore, location has played one of its biggest roles ever in compensation and will continue to for the foreseeable future. In 2020, salaries among some historically popular tech hubs like Boston and Silicon Valley saw more regular increases like 5-6%, while salaries shot up by more than 13% in smaller hubs like Charlotte (13.8%) and Orlando (13.4%) as these cities became more attractive in a remote environment. (Salaries based off where employees are working from.)
Read More: The Hybrid Workplace: Reimaging How Work Gets Done
Despite the majority of tech compensation potential increasing overall, workers that leave expensive tech hubs could face up to a 25% pay cut. No longer bound by the cost of living in expensive meccas of technology, top-paying companies such as Twitter, VMWare, and now Google are willing to let employees stay remote – but sometimes at a decreased salary. However, with more options than ever open to them, for IT candidates facing this situation or not, they are still expecting to see an increase of at least 15% when jumping into a new role.
While the biggest reason for the job search for many is a better salary, according to the 64% of the workforce searching for a new job, the rise of remote – with 357% increase in remote job posts on Linkedin by Q3 of 2021 – cannot be ignored as well. With 39% of employees considering quitting their job if forced to go back to the office full time, the impact of remote work on salaries cannot be denied – but many companies are still unsure how to handle it and workers are uncertain of the future in it.
With numerous tech opportunities and much competition available across North America, you can partner with your local Motion Recruitment office if you're in the tech space and looking for a new opportunity or hire. Motion has been bringing together the best candidates in tech with some of the top companies in North America for over 30 years. Our expert recruiters are ready to help you with the next steps.
Motion's Tech Salary Guide is here to provide the industry insights you need to see success in 2022. Download your free copy here or below.
