CARY, N.C. – Global Knowledge, the world's leading learning services and professional development solutions provider, today announced the availability of its 2016 IT Skills and Salary Report. The report is based on input from more than 10,000 IT and business professionals in North America who responded to Global Knowledge’s ninth annual IT Skills and Salary Survey, one of the largest of its kind.

Among the key findings from this year's IT salary survey:

Cybersecurity, cloud computing and networking skills are in demand

IT security tops the list of the skills that IT decision-makers say they want their team members to have. Other in-demand skills include cloud computing, IT architecture, and network and systems engineering and operations. One in three IT decision-makers reported having difficulty finding skilled talent to fill cybersecurity positions, while one in five reported difficulty filling cloud-related roles.

Average salaries for IT professionals are on the rise, while non-IT professionals’ salaries are lower

Though combined average salaries for IT professionals and decision-makers fell by two percentage points—from $88,835 to $86,545—average salaries increased for each group, from $75,889 to $76,865 for IT staff and from $109,165 to $111,167 for IT decision-makers.

The lower total average is due to a change in the distribution of these two groups within the response pool. Staff-level IT respondents increased from 63 percent in 2015 to 72 percent in 2016. Conversely, the percentage of respondents who are IT decision-makers dropped from 37 in 2015 to 28 in 2016.

Non-IT salaries took a plunge this year, averaging $95,019 after last year’s $109,165 and bringing figures back in line with those from 2014. A nine percent increase in the number of entry-level—and therefore lower-paid—respondents is at least partly to blame for that decline.

Skills gaps increase stress on employees

Sixty-two percent of IT decision-makers said their teams currently have measurable skills gaps or will likely have them within the next two years, and 70 percent said the gaps create increased stress on existing employees. Other impacts include difficulty meeting quality objectives, delayed software and hardware deployments, and increased operating costs.

Building new skills is the top driver for professional development, while a lack of budget is the top obstacle

Three-fourths of this year’s IT respondents said they use professional development to build new skills, and half said preparing for a career certification or specialist exam is a top motivator. More than 45 percent of those who did not train in the previous year blamed a lack of funds. IT decision-makers who responded said the lack of training funds is also one of the driving reasons behind skills gaps in IT departments.

Application developers choose JavaScript, SQL and HTML most often

Seventy percent of application developers use one or more programming languages—six different languages on average. More than 60 percent of the developers who responded said they use JavaScript, SQL and some version of HTML.

The 2016 IT Skills and Salary Survey was conducted online from September 21 to October 23, 2015. The survey yielded more than 14,000 completed responses from around the globe, with 10,186 coming from the United States and Canada.

Download the complete IT salary survey report.

About Global Knowledge

Global Knowledge is the world’s leading learning services and professional development solutions provider. We deliver learning solutions to support customers as they adapt to key business transformations and technological advancements that drive the way that organizations around the world differentiate themselves and thrive. Our learning programs, whether designed for a global organization or an individual professional, help businesses close skills gaps and foster an environment of continuous talent development.

Offering the most relevant and timely content delivered by the best instructors, we provide customers around the world with their choice of customized private programs, convenient public training scheduling options, flexible delivery formats and continuous learning support to accelerate their success. Our business skills solutions teach essential communications skills, leadership development, business analysis, project management, IT service management and process improvement. With thousands of courses spanning from foundational training to specialized certifications, our core IT training is focused on technology partners such as Amazon Web Services, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, Red Hat, SAP and VMware. We offer comprehensive professional development for advancements in application development, big data analytics, change management, cloud computing, cybersecurity and networking.

Founded in 1995, Global Knowledge employs more than 1,700 people worldwide and is headquartered in Cary, North Carolina.