Hourly wages for technology professionals reached a new high during the fourth quarter of 2007, slowed sequentially at the end of the year, but still remained ahead of 2006 according to the most recent Yoh index of technology wages. The index reached a high of 115.96 in October 2007, up 5.7% from same period in 2006.The average hourly wage reached $32.39, the highest since the index began in 2001.

November and December wage growth was up also but only by 3.4% compared with the same periods in the previous year. The index also edged down at the end of the fourth quarter to 113.17.

"Despite a sequential drop at the end of 2007, we continue to see strong wage growth year-over-year, and remain cautiously optimistic for the technology and professional job market in 2008," said Jim Lanzalotto, VP of strategy and marketing at Yoh. "Weaknesses from other sectors of the economy may have permeated here and caused the decline, but customer demand is still strong, project backlogs are still full, and there are no signs that works in progress will be abandoned."