Kelly Services(US:KELYA) Globenewswire·2025-12-22 12:32Core Insights - Motion Recruitment's 2026 Tech Salary Guide reveals that while average tech salaries in the U.S. grew by only 0.8% year-over-year, specialized roles experienced significant salary increases, indicating a divergence in compensation trends within the tech industry [3][4][8] Salary Trends - Average salaries for specialized roles such as LLM developers reached $209,000, while senior data workers earned an average of $178,000 in 2025 [4] - Mid-level AI engineers saw the highest salary increase at 9.2% year-over-year, followed by senior platform engineers at 8.9% and mid-level Salesforce developers at 8.5% [8] - The overall average IT salary remained flat, highlighting the disparity between generalist and specialized roles [3][7] Hiring Dynamics - AI adoption has slowed hiring for entry-level and generalist IT roles, with organizations facing skills shortages and needing to recruit or train specialized talent [5][9] - The demand for specialized skills in data engineering, cybersecurity, and applied AI is driving the strongest compensation growth [5][9] Market Insights - The tech job market is increasingly specialized, with AI-focused roles increasing by 49% and data security roles by 30% [9] - Employers are prioritizing candidates with hands-on experience in AI, data, and cloud infrastructure, as well as those who demonstrate continuous growth through upskilling [5][10] Location Impact - Salary growth varies significantly by location, with remote tech workers experiencing a pay increase of 2.8% compared to a 10% increase in New York City [11] - The tech salary can differ by over 24% between cities, emphasizing the importance of location in compensation [11] Challenges in Hiring - The prevalence of candidate fraud and bots is complicating the hiring process, leading employers to rely more on referral-driven pipelines [12][13] - Companies that do not balance workplace policies with compensation and flexibility risk losing experienced IT talent [12]