A storm seems to be brewing in the IT job market. Pay raises have continued to outpace inflation, and bonuses are downright impressive — 11.6% on average. Yet, as the 2007 Network World Salary Survey finds, dissatisfaction over the salary package is rampant.

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On average, the 1,789 respondents to this year’s salary survey, conducted with the help of research firm King, Brown & Partners, saw their base pay rise 5.2%, to $86,700 (see “Your earnings”). On its own, that doesn’t sound all that impressive. But compared with the cost of living, it makes IT look like a good place to be. The average inflation rate for 2006 was only 3.2%, according to Inflationdata.com.

Yet respondents aren’t particularly happy with their pay packages. When asked to rank how satisfied they are with 18 job criteria, overall compensation and base salary fared poorly compared with how important they are. Overall compensation is tops in importance, with base salary at No. 2, yet those job criteria rank 11 and 12, respectively, in the satisfaction listing (see Frustrated with the paycheck,” below).

Similarly, respondents report dissatisfaction with annual raises. That job factor is No. 7 in importance but ranks No. 15 in satisfaction. Bonuses and stock options also are the source of disappointment, ranked No. 16 and 18 in satisfaction. However, those job factors aren’t nearly as important to them. Bonuses come in at No. 16 and stock/stock options at the rock-bottom No. 18 in importance.

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That bonuses and stock options rank so low in importance is odd given the hefty year-over-year average increases reported — 11.6% for bonuses, to an average of $7,700, and 21.1%, to $2,300, for stock/stock options. One explanation for this could be that respondents see these as standard human-resources fare, awarded when a company does well but not as a perk for doing a great job as a network professional per se. This perception could lead to a lower importance rating compared with job factors of a more personal nature.

When adding base pay with bonuses and such compensation as stock options, respondents are pulling in a total of $97,600 on average this year, or a 6% rise over 2006.