Hewitt Survey: More Than 7 Million Americans to See Lowest Pay Raises in Three Decades

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Employers Continue To Reduce 2009 Merit Budgets; Workers in the Automotive, Banking and Education Industries Will Be Hardest Hit

LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. — Next year, more than seven million Americans will see the lowest pay raises in 32 years, and that number is expected to rise as companies attempt to manage overhead costs in response to the economic crisis, according to a new survey by Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting and outsourcing company.

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Hewitt's latest survey of 640 large companies, representing almost 13.5 million American employees, found that the recent economic situation and/or cost pressures have prompted half (50 percent) to make significant changes to their base salary spending in 2009, and another quarter (25 percent) of companies are still considering doing so. For those companies, base salary increases for all employee groups are expected to drop below 3 percent for the first time since Hewitt started tracking the data in 1976. Salaried exempt employees will see an average salary increase of 2.5 percent in 2009, down from 3.8 percent in July. Executive pay increases will drop from 3.8 percent to 2.2 percent, and salaried nonexempt will decrease from 3.7 percent to 2.6 percent.

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Salary Increases by Industry

Not surprisingly, the automotive industry is expected to dole out the lowest pay increases next year, with salaried exempt and salaried nonexempt employees averaging 1.4 percent, down from 3.5 percent as originally projected in July. Pay raises for automotive industry executives are projected to be 1.3 percent, down from 4.0 percent.

Employees in the education and the banking/finance industries will also see lower-than-average increases next year. Salaried exempt employees in education can expect to see pay raises of 2.3 percent in 2009, down from 3.5 percent in July. Pay increases for employees in the banking and finance industries will be 2.9 percent for salaried exempts next year, compared to 3.9 percent.

Industries that will continue to see above-average salary increases in 2009 include construction/engineering (4.5 percent), research and development (4.0 percent) and pharmaceutical (3.9 percent).

http://www.hewittassociates.com/Intl/NA/en...l.aspx?cid=6093

[jundp 191]

I am ever-thankful in this horrible economic time that P was able to get a good job with a good company just a few months after arriving here. We were REALLY worried about that.

And I'm in education, but I never really expect to get huge raises anyway...as long as my salary doesn't drop any, I'll be happy.

[NickD 203]

I am ever-thankful in this horrible economic time that P was able to get a good job with a good company just a few months after arriving here. We were REALLY worried about that.

And I'm in education, but I never really expect to get huge raises anyway...as long as my salary doesn't drop any, I'll be happy.

Somebody is getting a raise, property tax bill increased by 7.9% and in the last four years, electrical and natural gas rates, these are the rates and have nothing to do with usage, have tripled in cost. All domestically produced and doesn't have a damn thing to do with OPEC/ Government blames consumers for inflation, but they are the only ones that can control our trade deficit. And if you have a couple of bucks in a CD, have to pay full taxes on the interest you earn, but in reality, should be able deduct the inflation rate first. In the last several years the rate of inflation has been higher than the interest rate, so you are actually paying taxes on money that you lost. They sure know how to screw us, just bend over and take it like a man.

[Dr. Obvious 49]

I'm just happy to have a good job. More than a pay raise, job security would be nice, but that is kind of a pipe dream. Though there are no talks of budget cuts or layoffs at my job, anything is possible.

[Jasman0717 9]

We won't see any payraises (management is still going to get their bonuses and pay raises) and most likely we will be seeing more layoffs come June.