Who should earn a higher salary:

• A DB2 DBA with strong technical skills
  A DBA's manager with strong people skills

Years of experience is the same

This is not a simple question.

The main job of a manager is to hire and fire staff. Some managers are good at identifying, recruiting, and keeping good DBA's, and getting rid of bad ones (usually very difficult to do). Many managers are not so good at this.

Of course, in bad economic times like we have right now, it is a lot easier to find and keep good DBA's, so a manager might not be as valuable right now as compared to when good DBA's are hard to find and keep.

Also, a manager is responsible (in most cases) for everything that happens in their department, and that can be a lot more stressful than just worrying about the quality of your own work.

Bottom line is that if a manager is able to staff (including replace any who quit) the department with DBA's that have strong technical skills, then maybe the are more valuable than just one DBA with strong technical skills, since presumably they can replace you.