Hired, a recruiting marketplace matching tech and sales talent with top companies, today released its annual report: 2022 State of Tech Salaries: Navigating an Uncertain Hiring Market. The report provides one of the most in-depth analyses of the 2022 hiring environment, detailing insights on global compensation trends, benefits, and remote work shifts.

Key findings include a global increase in salaries* across nearly all tech roles, driven primarily by the growth in salaries of experienced professionals (3+ years of experience). While Hired data shows the number of companies seeking to hire remote junior-level talent has grown, local salaries for junior-level candidates have failed to grow as quickly as salaries for professionals with more years of experience – potentially indicating salary pressures in current market conditions, with employers leaning heavier into hiring needs for more experienced talent.

Candidates in the San Francisco (SF) Bay Area continue to see the highest salary offers at an average local salary of $174,063 with Seattle ($168,069), New York ($161,128), Boston ($158,548), and Austin ($157,612), trailing respectively. Average local salaries for candidates in mid-size markets (Boston, LA and Seattle) have quickly caught up to salaries on par with larger tech hubs (New York and SF).

As remote dominates as the preferred work model, remote salaries have continued to outpace local salaries (15 out of 17 markets had higher remote salaries, up from 13 markets in 2021) – with remote roles paying $3,000 more on average globally. Average remote salaries climbed to $162,950 this year, ranking third highest overall in the report after SF Bay Area and New York average local salaries.

The top three highest paying markets in the US for remote salaries remained SF Bay Area ($175,909), Seattle ($171,432), and New York ($162,261) in 2022 – with remote salaries climbing for all three markets across the board YoY. In the US, SF Bay Area was the only market in which local salaries continued to pay higher than remote salaries (by 1%).

“The hiring climate this year has been full of contradictions and challenges,” said Josh Brenner, Hired CEO. “We’ve seen climbing salaries, aggressive hiring, and layoffs – all at once. However, the hiring landscape remains competitive as companies innovate and diversify their teams through remote work. We’re seeing salaries rise globally as employers expand their talent pools and candidates find more opportunities outside their backyards. To ride out this storm of uncertainty, we recommend a shift from hyper-growth to more efficient growth. Be responsive and attentive to what’s important to employees, stay the course on DEI initiatives, and continue to nurture your employer brand.”

These findings are based on the analysis of more than 907,000 interview requests over 47,000 active positions, facilitated through Hired’s marketplace from January 2019 through June 2022. Hired also surveyed over 2,000 tech professionals on their salary, benefits, and flexible work preferences. This year, Hired also asked survey respondents for their sentiments around: cost of living challenges, salaries in light of inflation, DEI rollbacks as companies tighten resources, location versus role-based compensation, and willingness to take risks to job seek in a volatile market.

Additional key findings from the 2022 State of Tech Salaries report include:

• Engineering management roles still pay the highest among tech roles across the US, UK and Canada. The US sees highest local salaries for the role on average at $196,000 and Engineering Management remote salaries are $198,000 – the highest paying salary overall across every market globally. Also, roles outside of engineering (Design, Data Analytics, and Quality Assurance) saw the highest salary increases this year, with remote salaries for all roles rising in 2022.
• Employers continue to expand talent pipelines and hiring across an increased number of markets and timezones – with remote-first employers having a competitive edge. Businesses of all sizes are more open to interviewing candidates from other locations (4.4 markets in 2022 up from 3.3 in the beginning of 2021). Candidates showed an increased preference for remote-only roles, with 32% of all active job seekers open to “Only Remote” roles on the Hired platform (as of June 2022), up from 18% in January 2022.
• Time to acquire tech candidates has slowed across the US, UK, and Canada as companies and jobseekers are taking more time to evaluate offers. In 2022, the time to acquire tech candidates is up to a 60-day average time-to-hire in the U.S. and 68 days in the U.K. Remote roles took 40 days to fill, up slightly from 39 days in 2021.
• The exodus from traditional big tech hubs is continuing to push salaries higher in smaller cities. Philadelphia (+12%), Dallas/Fort Worth (+11%) and Denver (+11%) showed the highest average local salary increases across all markets. Other highest growth markets were Toronto and London, globally, which ranked above Boston, New York, SF Bay Area and Seattle this year in terms of YoY salary growth.
• The salary gap is closing between startups and enterprise organizations. Salary levels at corporates (companies with 300+ employees) versus startups (companies with <300 employees) in the US narrowed to the smallest pay difference to date since 2019.
• Candidates are still emboldened and willing to leave their current role for better fit and higher-paying opportunities. Even as Hired survey data shows some sentiment of a power shift to employers in the next six months (27% of employees feel that employers will have more power by 2023); if denied an expected raise in the next six months, the majority (90%) would start looking for a new job immediately, while half of respondents expect salary increases by 2023.
• Tech salaries see the highest earning power in Atlanta – the highest average salary earning market in 2022, when adjusted for cost of living (COL). Factoring in the cost of living, earning an average tech salary of $176,000 in the SF Bay Area would be equivalent to making $223,729 in Atlanta in 2022. In contrast, earning an average SF tech salary in New York (highest COL out of all US markets) is like earning $153,000. Despite overall tech salary increases in 2022, 42% of remote respondents and 29% of local respondents do not feel that their salaries have kept up with rising inflation and living costs.
• Despite the current economic climate, remote/flexible work remains a top priority for employees. When asked if they would be willing to return to work in the office, if it meant greater job security, over half (54%) of candidates stated yes, but would start looking for other jobs with more flexible remote work options immediately. Only 33% of respondents would trade remote work for a fully in-person role with a higher salary.
• Practical benefits are now paramount in volatile economic conditions. Surveyed candidates’ most compelling benefits from 2021 to 2022 remained the same (flexible work, paid time off, and health insurance benefits), but this year candidates would be willing to trade in a higher salary for practical benefits (health insurance and 401K retirement matching) versus stock/equity in 2021.
• Majority of surveyed candidates worry about deprioritized DEI efforts. 61% of surveyed candidates are worried the 2022 economic climate will lead to a rollback of DEI efforts, with 14% of respondents reporting they have already seen deprioritization.

To access the full report, visit: 2022 State of Tech Salaries: Navigating an Uncertain Market

*Notes to editors:

• Remote salary: Salary attributed to a remote role, with no home location. Location-based averages are attributed to the markets that jobseekers originate from, rather than the Interview Request (IVR) – e.g. A remote IVR is sent to a jobseeker from San Francisco.
• Local salary: Salary from an Interview Request (IVR) that is attributed to a particular location or market. Average local salary locations are tied to the IVR itself – e.g. an IVR sent for San Francisco to a jobseeker in this location, or elsewhere.

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