IDG News Service — A new study shows that pay for IT skills fell by 0.5 percent overall during the first three months of this year, but also that some 46 skills rose in value.

See also: IT Salary Survey Strikes Hopeful Notes During Recession and Research Reveals Highest-Paid IT Skills and Certifications During the Recession.

Under noncertified skills, Linux pay grew the fastest, jumping 28.6 percent, according to the survey by Foote Partners, a Vero Beach, Florida, consulting and research firm that tracks IT skills pay. It was followed by Apache Web server (25 percent); Sybase Adaptive Server (25 percent) and Java J2EE/SE/ME (20 percent).

Meanwhile, pay for PowerBuilder skills saw the biggest decline, falling 50 percent. AIX, C++, CGI and dBase/XBase pay all dropped 25 percent in Q1, according to the study.

HP/Certified Systems Engineer topped the list for certified IT skills pay growth, with a 14.3 percent increase in the past three months. Next strongest were Sun Certified Programmer for Java Platform (13.5 percent), HP/Accredited Integration Specialist (12.5 percent), GIAC Certified Incident Handler (12.5) and EC-Council/Certified Hacking Forensics Investigator (12.5 percent.)

Prosoft Master CIW Administrator pay dropped the most of all certified skills in the first quarter, falling 25 percent, as did Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer+Internet. Microsoft Certified IT professional (-20 percent), Novell/Certified Internet Professional (-20 percent) and Novell Certified Instructor (-16.7 percent) rounded out the top five highest drops.