Singapore – With the banking and finance sector fuelling demand for talent, IT professionals can command a higher pay if they choose to job hop now.

Richard Talbot, general manager of the IT recruitment firm, Sapphire Technologies, says with a low 2% unemployment rate and a shortage of skilled workers, there is a pressure on companies to increase the wages of IT workers.

Similarly, Watson Wyatt’s quarterly HR Trends survey showed that IT sector had a 5.4% salary adjustment in 2008, compared to 4.8% for general industries. This ranks the IT industry as one of the top 4 industries, paywise.

Another contributing factor to the pay increment is Singapore’s strong banking and finance sector. Sean Paul Darilay, consultant and data services manager, Watson Wyatt, observes the increase in IT talent demand could be due to several global banks setting their back-room operations in Singapore.

Talbot also cites the booming Asian economy as a strong attraction for global banks to continue investing in Singapore.

He says, “IT professionals with strong banking experience, especially those with investment banking experience, can expect continuing demand for their skills.”

"Looking ahead, IT workers will be in a very strong position to negotiate what they want from their employer,” adds Talbot.

With the US recession and business slowdown in other industrialised countries creating more cost-saving and off-shoring jobs in Asia, Singapore is one leading desirable location for companies to set up IT operations in.

Darilay says, “Singapore, with its stable political system, outstanding infrastructure and regional travel and labour hub status, will generally be a key destination for high-end IT jobs.”

However as the IT talent market supply becomes more critical, companies need to further improve on their employee attraction and retention strategies.

Darilay says, “Flexi-hours, working off-site or at home and compressed work week are key to IT professionals as technology can actually allow them to work outside the office.”

Skilled IT professionals are currently in high demand by the logistics sector and areas such as project management, application support, software development, SAP and systems administration.