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The Highest- and Lowest-Paying Industries for IT Workers

The Highest- and Lowest-Paying Industries for IT Workers

It pays to work in the systems integration industry—a lot. Systems integrators pay their technical employees the highest average salaries of employers in any other industry. Find out the industry that pays the lowest, and everything in between.

It pays to work in the systems integration industry—a lot. Systems integrators pay their technical employees the highest average salaries of employers in any other industry: an average of $104,187. The industry that pays the lowest? Education services, with an average of $76,515.

All of this is according to the 2015 IT Skills and Salary Survey. They survey, a partnership between Global Knowledge and Windows IT Pro, was conducted online from Sept. 15 to Oct. 24, 2014. More than half a million survey invitations were sent to recipients from the databases of Global Knowledge, Windows IT Pro, and partner companies and organizations. More than 16,300 responses worldwide were returned, with 68 percent coming from the United States and Canada. This year’s survey is the eighth annual for Global Knowledge and the third in partnership with Windows IT Pro. This year’s survey also was broadened to include the perspective of IT decision makers (ITDMs), who provided insight into key considerations including budget trends and cloud computing adoption.

Rounding out the top five highest-paying industries for IT pros were:

  • IT consulting (average IT salary of $98,380)
  • Natural resources, mining, oil or gas ($98,185)
  • Banking, finance, accounting ($93,321)
  • Manufacturing: Consumer ($92,530)

The report based on the survey also breaks down the salaries of each industry by IT staff compensation and IT decision maker compensation. It’s interesting in that of the top five highest-paying industries there is about a $30,000 difference between the salaries of IT staff and IT decision makers, with one exception: In the natural resources industry, there is only about $11,000 separating staff from decision makers.

Overall, according to the report, decision makers tasked with overseeing IT operations earn an average of 42% more than their staff counterparts.

Aerospace/Defense and Government-Military and homeland security were, respectively, the No. 6 and 7 highest paying industries for IT jobs. However, Government-Nondefense, state, local, was among the five lowest-paying industries for IT. In addition to Government-Nondefense and Education services, the industries where IT pros are receiving the lowest salaries are Construction, Architecture and Engineering; Retail; and Nonprofit.

Download the full report here. (Scroll down to the bottom of the page.)

Would you change industries to get a higher salary? Vote in our poll here.

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