Index

In columns past, Live Wire has often referred to the "good, high-paying jobs" available to women in the computer industry. Not wanting the inspired creative outpouring of the writing process to be slowed by the tedious research process, Live Wire was remiss in supplying facts. No more. This month, Live Wire puts her money where her mouth is with a look at what women typically can earn in a range of jobs in the $290 billion computer/information systems industry.

A little background: Wage gaps cause a significant salary shortfall for women. In America, for every dollar a man earns, a woman earns just 71 cents. It's not because more women work part time than man; the figure excludes part-time workers. It's not just because men work in higher-paying fields, either. Where men and women do the same work, men still earn more -- from the assembly line to the chorus line, including Hollywood. Still, industries dominated by men offer higher wages overall, so entering them holds promise for women rightfully seeking suitable compensation for their skills and smarts.

This isn't about greed. This is about fairness. And this is about a couple of generations of women who are trying to figure out how to make it through retirement -- on significantly smaller pensions than men, with statistically longer life spans.

That said, let's check the bottom line, starting with a nationwide 1996 survey taken by National Computer Associates of more than 1,700 employers of information-systems professionals. We'll look at figures for the Southeast part of the country.

Selected from a survey of some 11 management titles, the median (middle of the range, somewhat different from an average) salary is:

From a list of 15 professional staff titles, the median salary is:

These sound like decent numbers to me, especially if you like the work anyhow. Obviously someone with a bent for social work shouldn't enter an alien field...but Live Wire suspects that far more women with secret scientific leanings have entered non-technical fields than vice versa. If you and your daughters are making career decisions based on your true interests, you might as well have the facts. And you ought to try to make what you're worth -- to yourself, to your employer and to the economy as a whole.

Regional salary differences around the country are what you might expect. Employers in the Washington, D.C. area were, shall we say, not exactly giving it away, but probably the predominance of government jobs skewed the results. The same positions in the Northeast and on the West Coast fetched about 10 percent more. But, you know, if you lived there, you couldn't enjoy Washington's superlative summers. Snow, earthquakes...who needs it?

Anyhow, things may change locally. This spring, the Washington Post has run at least two articles describing a serious shortage of technically skilled workers to support the region's growing information industry. Surely you remember this scenario from high-school economics. Demand, up. Supply, down. Hmm...could that mean wages will rise?

If you've harbored a secret yen for flow charts, cables and algorithms, this could be your moment to seize. A course here, a certification there, and before you know it you've nabbed one of those "good, high-paying jobs." You go, girl!