Salaries for IT workers in the private sector have experienced healthy growth, outstripping the pay rates of their public sector colleagues.

According to new data released by the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia (APESMA), IT professionals have experienced a 4.2% salary increase since the lows of 2009, compared to 3.5% growth in the public sector.
It appears the good news is set to continue, and APESMA CEO Chris Walton said “Across the board, recruitment firms are predicting a rise in permanent hiring over the coming 12 months and salary expectations are likely to follow”.

Despite business confidence remaining patchy for the immediate outlook, APESMA said most organisations in their industry are expecting a moderate growth phase, and hence further salary increases are likely to follow.

However, despite the positive salary forecast, IT workers continue to experience very high rates of unpaid overtime, with the problem particularly rife in private organisations.

Walton said the high instances of unpaid overtime was concerning, and said “Over 60% of IT professionals in the private sector reported receiving no additional compensation for overtime worked compared to 38.4% in the private sector- clearly there’s an issue there for private sector employees.”

However industry professionals have warned employers that the issue of unpaid overtime can mean the difference between losing or hanging on to specialist IT talent, and their skills often underpin “growth strategy and business objectives for the coming 12 months”.
Next week thousands of NSW government technology workers will closely follow the announcement of the new state budget, with widespread speculation some of its 10,000 contractor roles will be on the chopping block.

According to March figures, the NSW government had 5,730 full-time IT workers, and engaged the services of up to 10,000 contractors.
After the state’s Health Department cut 300 jobs last week, NSW tech workers who are not engaged in core projects believe they are in the firing line.
The government is tipped to announce outsourcing initiatives, and ministers Greg Pearce and Mike Baird are said to support the moves- reportedly seeing it as a way to not only slash costs but drive efficiencies in public-sector service delivery.

The government has not released any further information in advance of the budget announcement, however sources close to the government said outsourcing of technology jobs was not a matter of if but when.

The federal government has historically been a big supporter of IT outsourcing with the departments of Defence, Immigration, Customs, Health and more relying on big firms such as IBM, CSC, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard and Unisys as outsourcing partners.