Average information technology salaries rose 1.7% last year to $74,570, according to an annual survey released by Dice Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DHX). However, that's a smaller increase than the 5.2% in 2006.

IT contractors posted the largest gains at 3.7% in 2007 for an average salary of $93,017, while full-time IT workers' salaries rose 1.7% to an average of $72,003.

"While technology professionals experienced overall slower salary growth in 2007 than in 2006, the traditional technology hot beds of Silicon Valley, Boston, and Atlanta saw better than average salary growth, and IT managers saw strong salary increases," Dice President and CEO Scot Melland said. "Technology workers remain among the highest paid employees, especially those with management experience and hard-to-find skills."

Dice surveyed more than 19,000 technology professionals.