A new study has found that Canadian information-technology workers can expect starting salaries this year to jump an average of 6.7 per cent over last year. Those who specialize in Internet-related tasks such as Internet security, Web development and electronic commerce can expect to see even bigger salary hikes - increases that in some cases might soar as much as 13.9 per cent. The study found that salaries would range from $38,250 to $50,750 annually for an applications-development programmer, and up to $80,250 for a telecommunications manager. The findings were reported by RHI Consulting, a subsidiary of Robert Half International Inc. of Menlo Park, Calif., which places information technology workers on a contractual and a full-time basis.

While Montreal still lags behind Toronto and Ottawa in terms of average salary, the city is fast becoming a recruiting hotbed, said David Tighe, RHI's Toronto-based regional manager. Because of geographic discrepancies in the data that reflect higher salaries in Toronto and Ottawa than in Montreal, a cost-of-living variance chart was included in the report, he said. Toronto was assigned a variance of 120 per cent, Ottawa received 109, and Montreal was assigned 92 per cent. That means a technical worker making $46,000 in Montreal could expect to make $60,000 in Toronto and $54,500 in Ottawa.

But things are changing, Tighe said, adding that Montreal salaries have been increasing over the last year, and are "getting very, very close to being on par with Ottawa and Toronto." "It's catching up all the time," he said. "The Montreal market is becoming one of the hottest markets in Canada. I see as much demand in Montreal for talent as I do for anywhere across the country."

Montreal's high-tech firms employ an estimated total of almost 300,000. The number of jobs in the sector is growing at an annual rate of 20 per cent. In the last couple of months in particular, Montreal high-tech companies have been on a hiring spree.

In December, in an attempt to recruit 100 new employees, Zero-Knowledge Systems Inc. deployed a flat-bed truck equipped with a large billboard highlighting job opportunities. Nortel Networks Corp. plans to offer lucrative salaries and stock options in a bid to recruit 1,450 high-tech workers in Montreal over the next few months. "There is no doubt that (salaries are) increasing," said Richard Donovan, a lecturer on information systems at McGill University's management faculty. The results of the study "sound very reasonable," he said, adding that he has heard of salary increases in the U.S. of as high as 20 per cent. He said that about 10 per cent of IT jobs are unfilled right now. "The salaries have to go up - to attract the best people," he said. "The 10 per cent has been constant for a while."

Donovan said students who major in management-information systems at McGill are graduating with "four or five job offers on the table." He said IT starting salaries in Montreal tend to range from $34,000 to $38,000 and include perks such as stock options, free cappuccino, flexible work hours, gym membership, lap-top computers and cell phones.

Other key findings in the RHI report were:
- Applications-development managers and Internet security administrators would see a 13.9-per-cent rise in starting salaries, while UNIX administrators would see an increase of 12.4 per cent over 1999.
- People specialized in Web-based applications and electronic commerce are expected to see an average salary increase of 11.2 per cent.
- Base compensation for database analysts will rise 12.6 per cent, bringing starting salaries to $60,000 to $76,250 annually.
- Analysts in technical services, help desk and support areas will receive average starting salaries of between $55,000 and $72,000, up 12.4 per cent from 1999.
- Telecommunications managers will see starting salaries increase 11.5 per cent over 1999, with a base pay of $68,000 to $80,250 per year.
- Applications-development programmers will see an 11.3 per cent increase in average starting salaries. Base salaries will range from $38,250 to $50,750.
- Average starting salaries for data-base architects will increase 11.1 per cent over 1999, bringing them to about $63,250.

The study also forecast that IT hiring would be strong in the finance, insurance and real-estate sectors this year.

While the high salaries are good news, McGill's Donovan warned that the trend won't continue forever.

"I don't know how long this is going to last," he said. "These salaries just can't keep spiraling out of control. Sooner or later, we are going to hit a saturation point and I'm figuring it will probably last another five years. After that it will be interesting to see."