ZDNet Asia IT Salary Benchmark 2009
ZDNet Asia conducted an online survey between October 2008 and May 2009, to gain insights into salary trends and the IT workforce across Asia.
| Number of Respondents by Country | |
| China | 779 |
| Hong Kong | 1,191 |
| India | 6,960 |
| Indonesia | 2,577 |
| Malaysia | 2,722 |
| The Philippines | 3,008 |
| Singapore | 3,526 |
| Thailand | 864 |
| TOTAL | 21,627 |
| * polled from October 2008 to May 2009 | |
The study polled a total of 21,627 respondents from various sectors including government, healthcare, IT, services, telecommunications, legal and finance, and across eight Asian economies: China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
In this ZDNet Asia special report, which profiled salary benchmarks across the region, IT professionals in Hong Kong once again led with the highest average annual salary of US$66,140, up from US$57,303 in last year's survey.
Singapore IT professionals ranked second at US$45,341, followed by their Thai counterparts who earned US$20,154.
Across the eight Asian economies, the overall average annual salary peaked at US$23,893, while the region's average work experience stood at 7.6 years.
Hong Kong professionals also highly valued IT certifications, where 46.5 of respondents owned at least one IT certification--the most among the eight markets. They were followed by Singapore's IT professionals, 44.7 percent of whom were armed with at least one IT certification. India ranked in third at 41.8 percent.
Average Annual Salary by Years of Experience (US$)
| Country | Years of Experience | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 5 years | 5-10 years | More than 10 years | |
| China | 9,062 | 19,239 | 26,866 |
| Hong Kong | 40,511 | 56,847 | 84,999 |
| Malaysia | 11,547 | 19,049 | 26,443 |
| Singapore | 28,417 | 44,541 | 63,327 |
| Thailand | 10,577 | 19,102 | 29,197 |
| Indonesia | 3,527 | 7,494 | 11,382 |
| India | 7,454 | 14,502 | 19,599 |
| Philippines | 5,784 | 9,564 | 13,007 |
Respondents with At Least 1 IT Certification
| IT Certification by Proportion and Ranking | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Country | Hold at least 1 IT Certification (%) | |
| 1 | Hong Kong | 46.5 | |
| 2 | Singapore | 44.7 | |
| 3 | India | 41.8 | |
| 4 | Malaysia | 38 | |
| 5 | Thailand | 37.7 | |
| 6 | China | 33.9 | |
| 7 | Indonesia | 32.4 | |
| 8 | Philippines | 26.8 | |
| REGION | 38.4 | ||
Top 10 Most Popular IT Certifications
| Rank | IT Certifications | % of Respondents |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) | 11.4 |
| 2 | Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) | 11.2 |
| 3 | Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) | 7.4 |
| 4 | Project Management (PMP) | 5.3 |
| 5 | Microsoft Certified System Administrator (MCSA) | 4.3 |
| 6 | IBM Certification | 3.8 |
| 7 | Network+ Certification | 3.7 |
| 8 | Sun Certified Programmer for Java 2 | 3.6 |
| 9 | A+ Certification | 2.9 |
| 10 | SAP Certified Application/Technical Consultant | 2.8 |
Average Annual Salary by Job Function (US$)
| Country | Job Function | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IT Management | Project Management | Systems Development | Comms | Support | Admin | Other IT Professionals | |
| China | 25,103 | 21,574 | 11,788 | 11,762 | 9,824 | 13,725 | 7,124 |
| Hong Kong | 89,770 | 61,304 | 51,228 | 64,062 | 44,794 | 53,580 | 62,080 |
| India | 18,354 | 16,783 | 10,325 | 8,823 | 6,584 | 8,320 | 11,499 |
| Indonesia | 10,376 | 8,114 | 4,564 | 5,177 | 3,897 | 4,887 | 5,688 |
| Malaysia | 26,407 | 21,604 | 14,297 | 17,804 | 11,976 | 14,499 | 19,511 |
| Philippines | 12,466 | 11,119 | 8,199 | 7,423 | 4,730 | 8,165 | 6,406 |
| Singapore | 65,785 | 51,158 | 34,010 | 36,130 | 29,562 | 37,033 | 50,499 |
| Thailand | 29,066 | 22,285 | 13,237 | 14,987 | 13,155 | 17,520 | 23,600 |