HOLLAND – Computer consulting and health care companies will be leaders in

increased hiring of information technology staff in the next six months

in West Michigan, says a survey released Monday.

This certainly agrees with the Talent 2025 study

discussed in a recent MLive article that says

by 2020 the fastest growing occupations will be in healthcare (24 percent)

and in computers and math (19 percent). Overall about 60 percent of the companies Paragon Recruiting polls plan to increase their IT staffing next winter

and spring. Not one company plans to decrease IT staff.

More than 80 percent of the many companies who plan to hire new tech workers are also increasing IT salaries. This compares to only 36 percent of hiring

companies in summer 2013 who said they were raising IT pay.

The Employers’ Association (www.teagr.org) is a membership based HR

organization in Grand Rapids that does an annual study of salaries in

West Michigan. In 2013 they reported the median salary for IT ranged

from $40,000-$105,000; in 2014 the median salary ranged from

$44,000-$108,000. Is it scarcity of IT workers that is driving wages up?

Support professionals will be in greater demand with a jump from 34 percent to

55 percent. The need for senior and mid-level IT staff is also growing. The use

of IT interns has been trending down. Where will tomorrow’s

professionals get their practical experience if this continues?

“2014 has been a solid steady hiring year for technology professionals. The need for more senior level people is in line with baby boomers retiring and wages

needing to increase due to a much smaller pool of workers immediately

following: basic supply and demand,? said Paragon’s chief recruiting officer Beth DeWilde. ?This should loosen up in the next

couple of years with the so-called baby-boom echo coming into the

workforce. Let’s hope they are geeks.”

Twice each year, since 2003, Paragon Recruiting in Holland, MI, polls

senior IT managers in the West Michigan market to determine what the

future holds for IT staffing, outsourcing, and pay rates. Each forecast

includes responses from about 100 companies.

See the full report complete with five-year trend graphs by clicking on ParagonUSA.Com