High-tech wages climbing in 2007

New research shows that technology professionals this year earned about 5% more in wages during the third quarter than they did during the same period in 2006.

Yoh, a talent and outsourcing services company, Thursday released its Yoh Index of Technology Wages for the third quarter of 2007. The data shows that wages for computer scientists, engineers and other technology professionals increased 6% in July, grew 4.64% in August and improved 5.79% in September, compared to the same months in 2006.

Yoh, which started its wage index for pay rates in technology sectors in January 2001, reports that technology wages "consistently outpaced national trends" in 2005 and 2006. In addition, tech wages started out strong in 2007, "breaking all previous records by a significant amount" and continue to grow.

"Wage growth is strong, demand is increasing due to rapid advancements in technologies, and all leading indicators point to increased hiring in coming months," said Jim Lanzalotto, vice president of strategy and marketing for Yoh, in a statement.

Yoh bases its wage findings on the employment activity of as many as 5,000 technology professionals at more than 1,000 of the nation's top employers in the aviation, engineering, IT, manufacturing, scientific, telecommunications and utility industries.

Yoh also compiled a list of in-demand technology skills, based on the results of its interviews with more than 9,000 hiring managers in 15 metropolitan areas. According to Yoh, technology professionals with experience in the following positions will be in demand:

* Biostatistician
* Civil engineer
* Clinical research associate
* Firmware/embedded engineer
* Java developer
* Mechanical engineer
* .Net developer
* Oracle data base administrator
* Project manager
* SAP consultant (functional/technical)