The old adage "money doesn't buy happiness" proves true in a new survey of IT leaders commissioned by executive search firm Harvey Nash USA and sponsored by KPMG. The survey, which drew 258 responses from CIOs, CTOs, senior- and mid-level IT managers and other C-level executives, found that IT leaders' compensation is on an upward trajectory.

According to the results, 75% of respondents earn a base salary of more than $125,000 per year; that's up from 70% last year and 36% two years ago. And 56% of respondents say that they earn an annual salary of more than $150,000, compared with 41% last year. At the top, 29% of respondents report earning more than $200,000 per year, compared to 19% last year. Harvey Nash's findings look similar to the compensation data from our 2008 State of the CIO research.

In addition to increases in base salaries, more IT leaders are getting retention bonuses. The number of IT leaders receiving such bonuses has skyrocketed in two years, from six percent to 22%, says the Harvey Nash survey.

No wonder that 80% of respondents report being satisfied with their compensation.

Despite the money they're making, fewer IT leaders say they're satisfied with their jobs this year. In 2007, 88% of IT leaders called their jobs fulfilling, compared with 79% this year. And one-fifth of respondents (21%) don't find their jobs fulfilling.

Consequently, 28% of respondents say they're hunting for a new job and the 54% who aren't actively looking say they'd entertain calls from recruiters.

One factor fueling that eagerness to switch jobs: CIOs feel less influential in their roles and in their organizations, according to the survey. The number of CIOs who view their role as becoming "more strategic" to their company declined from 80% last year to 69% this year.

What's more, fewer IT leaders now report to the CEO. Only 29 percent of the Harvey Nash survey respondents say their boss is the CEO, compared with 36 percent last year. (In our research, 41 percent of State of the CIO survey respondents call the CEO boss.)

The number of IT leaders who sit on the management team, 37%, also declined this year, by 10%. The majority of respondents (54%) aren't members of their companies' executive management teams. (According to our 2008 State of the CIO research, 71% of IT executives report sitting on their companies' executive management teams.)