Hourly wages for highly-skilled technology professionals reached an all-time high during the fourth quarter of 2007, and though growth slowed sequentially at the end of the year, it still remained ahead of 2006. The average hourly wage for high-impact technology workers was recorded at $32.39 during October, the highest average pay figure documented by the Yoh Index of Technology Wages since its inception in 2001.

However, reflecting the economy's slowdown in late 2007, average wages dropped $0.88 in November from October. Similarly, while average wages had experienced a 7.1% increase in September, they were followed by 5.7% growth in October, and 3.4% improvement in November and December, when compared to the same months in 2006.

"Despite sequentially slower growth at the end of 2007, we continue to see solid wage growth year-over-year, and remain cautiously optimistic for the technology and professional job market in 2008," says Jim Lanzalotto, Vice President of Strategy and Marketing for Yoh. "Weaknesses from other sectors of the economy may have permeated here and caused the decline, but customer demand is still strong; project backlogs are still full; and there are no signs that works in progress will be abandoned."

The Yoh Index of Technology Wages reached a high of 115.96 in October 2007, when indexed to January 2001 (1/2001 = 100), indicating a 5.7% increase in wage growth, when compared with the same period in 2006.

Trends in Technology Wages: January 2001 – Present

The Yoh Index of Technology Wages presents a current view of the changes in employer demand and supply of technology workers nationwide. Indexed to January 2001, the Yoh Index of Technology Wages was first introduced in January 2003 and is released quarterly.