Despite uncertain economic conditions and lower-than-average pay increases in other industries, staffing and recruiting professionals’ compensation is on the rise, increasing more than 10 percent in two years.

“As the economy grows and demand for high-quality workers increases, many companies turn to the recruiting and staffing industry for assistance, therefore driving demand for recruiting and staffing services and higher compensation,” says Art Papas, CEO and co-founder of Bullhorn, a Boston-based provider of recruiting and staffing software.

The findings of a recent Bullhorn survey suggest that staffing and recruiting professionals’ overall pay and benefits are likely to remain competitive and above that reported in other sectors of the employment market as talent becomes harder to find and organizations continue to place a premium on attracting high performers.

While salaries varied greatly among survey participants, the average expected salary of staffing and recruiting professionals for 2006 was $82,000, excluding bonuses, according to the nearly 500 staffing and recruiting professionals from various industries in the United States and Canada who participated in the survey.

The survey found that staffing and recruiting professionals who work outside the United States tend to be more experienced and better compensated, since a higher concentration of Canadian recruiters had average salaries of at least $100,000 and fewer had salaries below $50,000 than their U.S. counterparts.

It also found that there is a strong correlation between compensation and industry experience. Recruiting and staffing professionals with more than 10 years of experience reported earning an average salary of over $150,000.

?”The continued strong salary increases over the last few years are an indication of the value placed on [staffing] professionals’ contributions to the organization,” says Steve Williams, research director for the Society for Human Resource Management.