In “Salaries at Apple, Google a big investor concern – Commentary: Higher pay, benefit costs driving up expenses,” Marketwatch writer John Shinal laments that:
“Given that every full-time employee gets health insurance and other benefits that make up anywhere from a quarter to half their overall compensation, and that health-care costs are rising in the double-digit percentages, it’s safe to assume that U.S. tech companies are seeing employee costs rise in the double figures, as an annual percentage.”
In 2009, wages in high tech went up 5-10%. So Shinal’s assessment is consistent with a labor market that was relatively tight even at the height of the recession and beginning of the recovery.