The latest annual Salary Guide from Robert Half Technology is out and looks at compensation trends across the tech industry for Canada and the US. The salaries in the guide reflect starting pay only and do not include bonuses and other forms of compensation.

The guide mentions that a demand and supply imbalance that has affected the IT hiring market for years will likely continue in 2016. So many IT-related positions are being created that employers throughout North America and across industries often must wait months to staff key roles. What’s new is that tech jobs are remaining open because candidates aren’t even applying.

Firms are now looking to grow their own talent, upping their investment in developing high-potential internal employees and making more entry-level hires. Employers are also more willing to "stretch," helping a candidate to fit into a role versus waiting to find someone who meets all of their hiring criteria.

The guide predicts that hot industries for hiring in the months ahead will be financial services, healthcare, managed services, telecommunications and hospitality. Mobile technology, big data and security will continue to be major drivers for IT hiring throughout 2016.

Tech roles in demand will be developers, business analysts and quality assurance professionals, systems engineers and systems administrators, database administrators and business intelligence analysts and help desk and desktop support.

The full guide -- including a ton of salary ranges -- is available here.

John.