For the seventh consecutive quarter, Foote Partners, LLC’s Pay Index shows that the average pay for a large group of IT certifications declined, falling 1.6% in the six months that ended April 1. But salaries for a similarly large group of noncertified skills have continued to advance for an even longer period, since mid-2005. That group of 164 skills saw salaries rise nearly 2% over the same 6-month period.

Foote Partners notes that the increase in pay for noncertified skills is due in no small part to competition for IT professionals with experience in various SAP Applications.

David Foote, CEO and chief research officer of the Vero Beach, FL firm, said in a press release that SAP “caused skills and labor shortages that have gripped sizable segments of the employment market in North America and around the world and created some nasty supply and demand fluctations.”

Only one SAP skill is among the Top Five for average pay increases over the most recent six-month period, but eight are in the Top 25.

Top 5 noncertified skills, plus seven other SAP skills that made the top 25:

1. Network Security Management (+25% increase for 6 months, ending april 1, 2008)
2. Wireless Network Management (+22.2%)
3. Business Intelligence (+20%)
PHP
SAP Master Data Management
7. SAP ERP (+18%)
8. SAP Netweaver BI (+16.7%)
10. SAP Business Objects (+12.5%)
14. SAP Human Capital Management (HCM) – (+11.1%)
19. SAP Customer Relationship Management (CRM) – (+10%)
SAP Materials Management (MM)
22. SAP Netweaver Applications Server (+9.1%)

Source: ComputerWorld – July 14, 2008