You say "IT" but then programmer, which is typically a job in R&D, not IT. Are your data sets comparing apples to oranges? If you're looking at IT salaries in

You say "IT" but then programmer, which is typically a job in R&D, not IT. Are your data sets comparing apples to oranges? If you're looking at IT salaries in one place (network admins, db admins, help desk) and R&D salaries in another (software engineers, QA, product managers) you could easily get different results. I'm aware that the UK tends to use "IT" for all things computer related, so it seems very easy to get mixed data when crossing the atlantic. (Most likely the differences are due to the many differences in taxes, holiday/vacation, ability to hire & fire, etc between countries).