Those working in the IT industry are experiencing the biggest pay rises in the past three years, according to new research.

Celre's Computer Staff Salary Survey for the year to May 2008 has shown that despite the general financial downturn salaries in the IT are rising faster than inflation, according to a Computer Weekly report.

Average pay grew at 4.8 per cent with average bonuses working out at 15.3 per cent of salaries for IT managers and 8.5 for non-managers.

Mark Crail, managing editor at Celre, said: "There is little indication that redundancies are becoming any more widespread."

He added that the job security enjoyed by IT staff is in contrast to other departments, indicating that companies find it hard to recruit and retain staff members.

According to the Learning and Skills Council, the top ten credit-crunch proof jobs in the UK are IT security professional, software tester, network engineer.