The IT hiring recession is over, according to a 2007 IT Salary Survey to be released in mid-January by Janco Associates.

IT executive salaries were up 1.92 percent in large enterprises in the fourth quarter of 2006, but down 0.80 in midsize companies over the same period. This same trend had a more pronounced effect among IT middle managers; those in the larger enterprises saw gains of 2.14 percent while those in midsize ones lost 1.2 percent.

Only staff-level IT professionals gained in salary regardless of the size of their organization in the fourth quarter of 2006; those in the largest companies gained 1.16 percent and those in smaller ones gained 0.96 percent.

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Crunched together, IT professionals across the board saw their salaries swell by 0.72 percent at the end of 2006.

While compensation for CIOs in all enterprises has been relatively flat, with the mean between $174,979 and $169,504, it has generally increased for CIOs' direct reports.

Click here to read more about layoffs in 2006.

Mean compensation, including bonuses, for executive IT positions in the recent survey, is now $143,243 in large enterprises, those with more than $500 million in revenue, and $127,439 in midsize companies, those with between $100 million and $499 million in revenue.

The areas in highest demand include disaster recovery, security, wireless applications, internet development, e-commerce and programming and networking skills. Meanwhile, hiring for all levels of IT professionals in midsize enterprises has increased significantly.

The specific positions in highest demand include VP Administration, VP Security (CSO), Change Control Analyst, Computer Operations Shift Manager, Data Center Facility Administrator, Data Entry Clerk and LAN Applications Support Analyst.

Hiring for all levels of IT professionals in midsize enterprises has picked up briskly, according to the report.

The report notes that "baby boomer"-age IT professionals who had once intended to retire in 2003 and 2004 for the most part did not. Instead, they are now thinking of retiring in 2007 and 2008.

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