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Techie Pay Approaches All-time High
Stony Stevenson sent in this ITNews story which opens, "Techies were paid nearly record-high hourly wages in the third quarter, according to a new report released Thursday by staffing firm Yoh. Based on data compiled from 75 Yoh field offices and 5,000 technology professionals contracted in short and long-term projects, pay increased an average of more than 5.5 percent for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared to the same period last year."
People forget that each H1-B visa lasts for basically 7 years. And that the limits were wildly expanded during the dot-com boom. Starting in 2000, they went from 65,000 to 130,000. And this continued well after the dot-com bust had happened. It was only in 2004 that the limits went back down to 65,000.
Since this limit wasn't expanded this year (yet), that means lots of H1-Bs are starting to go home. This is why all of the visas that were issued in April were gobbled up in a single day. And none of this is something that you'll see in the mainstream press.
So a lot of H1-B's are going home this year. The local labor market WILL get tighter, and wages WILL rise.
If the limits aren't expanded this year, it's unlikely they'll be expanded next year either, as that's a major election year.
If Hillary Clinton is elected though (which seems likely), you can expect them to again be doubled, as she's been aggressively promoting their expansion, even on her current website.
So, expect wages to go up, while the H1-B's go home. And enjoy it while it lasts, as it won't last forever.
It's just more proof that H1-B's are all about cheap labor and not about a lack of talent.
If you look at "techie wages" adjusted for the increased price of real estate in places like Silicon Valley, and the lessening of the security of those wages, especially approaching middle age, then you see the real reason why mere propaganda isn't going to draw young people into tech fields ever again.
Seastead this.
Only if you are spending all of your US dollars on merchandise/services produced outside of the U.S.
Or at least most. If you're not spending more than 75% of your income on imports, then you either must live in one of the few places in the United States where Agriculture and manufacturing hasn't been utterly destroyed by imports, or you actually believe "Made in America" means something more than parts created in Mexico & China and shipped here for assembly.
I dare you to find a 100% made in America computer or car.
Or anything else requiring magnets, capacitors, and resistors (none of which are made in America anymore).
Heck- for that matter- I challenge you to find a US Soldier who isn't dependent upon part of his gear made someplace else than America.
For that reason, yes, the falling US dollar is about to make a 2008 $75,000/year paycheck feel like a 1995 $26,000/year paycheck. Good luck continuing to afford your education, for which you need to keep your techie job more than a couple of generations of languages and operating systems, on THAT.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
I'm a manager at a tech outfit, a fairly large one.
What we are looking for are high end techies, and the wage inflation is due to our desperation to get high end techies - programmers and network admins the like.
A newb trying to get into this field has absolutely NO CHANCE.
Go look at the job ads and see what they're looking for as far as experience is concerned. You can't even meet those requirements with internships.
The wages are rising because America's pool of experienced techies is drying up, and fast. There are few to no new tech 'masters' rising in America; they're all coming from Asia, because that is where all the newb jobs are.
Those H-1 visas are coming here to compete with rock bottom wages, too.
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
Need I go on? A 5.5% raise is still a 4-7% DECREASE in buying power verses the world economy.
No it doesn't.
A 5.5% raise means you have 5.5% more money.
An 11.1% fall against the Euro means you have 11.1% less purchasing power when buying goods imported from Europe. You're not any "poorer" than they are.
It also means our goods are 11.1% less expensive for Europeans, which means more exports and lessened trade deficit.
Just because our currency lost value against another country's doesn't mean we're now "poorer" than they are.
DATABASE WOW WOW
The actual data indicates that during 2001-2006 tech salaries grew at 1-2% (which is less than inflation), and during 2006-2007 they grew at at 5% (which is more than inflation).
An obvious hypothesis is that the techie market was in disarray following the dotcom meltdown, during which techies lost real (inflation-adjusted) income. But now the market has recovered, and techies are experiencing wage gains faster than inflation because of cyclic recovery and pent-up demand.
Note that techie salaries are still below their Y2001 levels in inflation-adjusted terms. But then again, techie salaries were probably abnormally high during that period.
None of this is really that surprising.
An 11.1% fall against the Euro means you have 11.1% less purchasing power when buying goods imported from Europe.
Huh? Doesn't it mean dollar holders lose, in general, 11.1% of their purchasing power for any good that could be sold on the global market?
For example, imagine a world in which you could buy one gold ounce for 1000 dollars, or one gold ounce for 1000 euros. In that case, the exchange rate would probably be 1:1. If the exchange rate were to ever go to 2:1, everyone would instantly have an arbitrage opportunity: Sell 1 gold ounce for 1000 euros, exchange those euros for 2000 dollars, and buy 2 gold ounces, for a profit of 1 gold ounce. But market action like that would quickly drive the exchange ratio back to 1:1.
So, if the exchange ratio were to ever go to 2:1, we could reason that either 1) the new exchange ratio will be short lived or 2) we will see a general price increase of 100%, in terms of dollars, on goods that could be (but will not necessarily be) exchanged on the global market. You seem to be treating the exchange rate as though it is unrelated to domestic prices, but perhaps I don't understand your position.