Almost half of UK tech workers plan to ask for a pay rise in the next year, according to a new PwC survey on global workforce attitudes. Indeed, staff at tech businesses across the globe are set to demand higher wages against a backdrop of booming demand for their skills.
The survey, which involved 52,195 individuals who are in work or active in the labour market, found that 27% of UK-based respondents are planning to ask their employers for a raise in the next 12 months. Out of this group, 44% of tech workers surveyed indicated their intention to ask for a wage increase during the same period.
But data from the recruitment platform Otta shows that the salaries for a range of middle to senior roles in the UK have already increased between February 2021 to February 2022. For a mid-level data scientist in the UK, wages have increased by 16%, while senior data scientists saw an 11% bump to their pay packets. Such positions in the UK can now command a salary of anywhere between £56,000-70,000, according to Otta’s data.
Drastic wage increases in the tech sector are also occurring across Europe and the US. A survey of 7,200 tech workers by tech recruitment platform Dice found that 48% believed they were underpaid in their current jobs, and there are signs that this trend might continue into the future, as this figure had increased 2% year-on-year.
Part of the reason for the general dissatisfaction with current pay structures is the boom in the number of tech jobs available, and how that serves as a constant incentive for tech workers to look for higher-paying opportunities elsewhere. In the UK, there were 64,000 vacancies for tech jobs in the third quarter of last year, up 191% year-on-year, according to new data published by BCS.
This means that it is a “sellers’ market for technology talent” and that tech workers retain “all the power if they choose to move roles,” Andrew Maeer, CEO of tech recruiter Amsourec, told Tech Monitor this week.
Other IT recruitment professionals like Nick Brand, co-founder of IT recruitment platform Onski, agree that skilled tech workers are keenly aware of their worth to the industry and how companies are scrambling to secure talent during a global skills shortage. “Candidates are now in the driving seat and looking to secure their next job, quickly and efficiently, but most importantly, on their own terms,” he said.
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