Prospects dim for IT professionals

IT Job Market Contracts

At the start of of the 2011 budget planning cycle many CIOs has seen an increase in IT budgets. Discretionary project investments looked like they were going to rise. With the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Janco, that may not be the case. In a survey conducted in the summer, more than half (51 percent) of the CIO interviewed said they will increase their IT budget and another 34 percent expected to maintain consistent levels with last year. Just 15 percent planned IT budget decreases. That same group of CIO now is much more pessimistic. The only area that they see an increase is in capital budgets for replacement hardware and software.

According to the survey, the mean compensation, including bonuses, for all IT executive positions in large enterprises for 2010 is $143,378, a slight increase from $142,753 in 2009, and $125,079 in mid sized enterprises, a slight decrease from $126,031 in 2009. Overall compensation for all IT professionals rose slightly to $78,210 from $77,690. However, there was a 13 percent decrease in the number of employees receiving personal performance bonuses and a 7 percent decrease in those receiving enterprise based performance bonuses.