A survey conducted by Mercer, an established consulting firm in compensation and benefits, in late 2007 revealed that Asia has the lowest paid IT managers as compared to other regions in the world.
With the exception of Hong Kong and Australia, both of which rank in the top 10 of world’s highest paying countries list, the rest of the Asian countries were lowly ranked in terms of the salary pay out level.
As a matter of fact, 6 of Asian countries (and markets) ranked among the top 10 lowest countries overall. That includes Vietnam, Philippines, India, Indonesia, China and Malaysia.
The world’s 10 worst paying countries are as the following (on annual salary scale, figures in US dollar. Beijing and Shanghai are considered as separate markets):
- Vietnam – 15,470
- Bulgaria – 22,240
- Philippines – 22,280
- India – 25,000
- Indonesia – 31,720
- Shanghai (China) – 33,770
- Malaysia – 35,260
- Czech Republic – 35,880
- Beijing (China) – 36,220
- Argentina – 43,180
The finding also explains the trend of outsourcing, where many multinational corporations are starting to look to Asia to outsource their IT operation, support and development. The fact that the salary for the managerial level is low means that the cost associated to pay the lower ranked staff and executives will be much lower. India, China and Malaysia are the Asian 3 countries with the most attractive outsourcing avenues.
While lower-level IT jobs and responsibilities are shifting its location to Asia, a number of foreign companies still maintain high-paying jobs which require bigger responsibilities, such as internal consultants, IT business partners and vendor relationship managers in their native countries.