Start-up and tech businesses expect to pay a premium for new employees

If you're looking for new tech graduates for your new tech start-up or your existing tech business then be prepared to fight hard and pay a premium, as a new study shows tech skills are in demand and salaries are on the rise.

According to figures from UK job search engine Adzuna there are over 2,697 tech start-up jobs currently available in the UK, that's up 33% in the last 6 months. Unfortunately for employers the number of tech-savvy graduates remains low. Just 7,000 students graduated with a Computer Science degree this year, which means there are just two graduates available for every graduate tech vacancy – the national average for jobs to graduates is 50 to 1, - so it's no surprise that average start-up wage from the 2,697 advertised jobs is a whopping £36,344.

The hotspot for tech start-ups is London with the capital accounting for 1627 (60%) of the jobs on offer, with the majority of the jobs on offer in London based around the Clerkenwell and Old Street areas. Outside of London the next biggest area was the South East and M4 corridor area with 390 vacancies followed by the North West with 141 vacancies.

According to the survey the majority of jobs on offer in the tech start-up market are in the key mobile web, big-data and social sectors, with 133 job descriptions mentioning "Big Data" as a requirement, 106 ask for "Augmented Reality" experience, 72 mention "Social Discovery", 88 want "OpenGraph" experience and "Mobile Payments" is mentioned in 34 jobs adverts.

Although the salaries seem high, they're no match for the banking sector, which despite their numerous troubles still manage to pay an average IT salary of £51,158 some 42% higher than the average start-up salary, and the highest paying graduate technology position in the City is an eye watering £75k.

To try and prevent the tech drain to the banking sector start-up businesses are offering share packages as part of the deal. Just over a quarter (27%) of start-ups currently hiring in the UK are offering stock to graduate tech employees.

While the news on salaries isn't good the survey does show that there are potential candidates out there if you look hard enough, according to Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA) one in ten Computer Science graduates still remain unemployed.