Communications of the ACM
Salaries Rise For Engineers Despite Higher Unemployment
Credit: Mary Elizabeth Bradford
Despite a higher-than-normal rate of unemployment and a weak economy, salaries for engineers are on the upswing.
The median salary for software engineers rose to $109,000 in 2010, a 4.8 percent increase from $104,000 in 2009, according to the annual salary survey from IEEE-USA. For all engineers, the median income, including salary, commissions, bonuses, and net self-employment income, increased by 3.96 percent from $113,500 to $118,000 last year.
The rise in salaries comes with an increase in unemployment, and IEEE's Ed Perkins suggests that the development might be the new normal. In 2010 the unemployment rate was 4.6 percent for software engineers, 4.5 percent for all engineers, and 5.4 percent for all computing professionals. "I would suspect that what we are seeing is that employers have all the workers they need," says Perkins. "It is business as usual--but with a smaller workforce."
Those working in communications technology had a median income of $135,000, the highest in the survey.
From Computerworld
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