High-tech pay drops first time in a decade: Study

PALO ALTO: Never mind that information technology workers are making a lot

less from stock options; their base salaries and bonuses are also falling

sharply, a new survey released Monday showed.

Information Technology managers should see an average 8 percent decline in

total compensation this year, while rank and file IT workers should expect their

pay to fall by 11 percent, according to a study by high-technology trade

publication Information Week.

The study found that IT managers earn a median base salary of $83,000 a year,

while IT staffers make $61,000. The lower salaries many of them are seeing this

year represents the first such drop in a decade, according to Information Week,

which surveyed more than 10,000 people employed in high-tech.

Bonuses are falling even more than salaries. Information Week said managers

who last year got a median bonus of $17,000, will see bonuses of about $6,000

this year. Median bonuses for staffers should fall from $11,000 to $2,000.

The study also found some other changes for the worse in the IT work place.

It said workers generally had more stress and lower morale.