by Oliver Fultz
24. August 2009 15:07
A new survey from human resources company Hewitt Associates found that millions of Americans will receive the lowest pay increases in three decades, as companies continue to control overhead costs in response to the economic crisis. However, while salary increases are expected to continue to decline, companies remain focused on rewarding key employees by providing variable-pay and performance based rewards – which must be re-earned each year.
These conclusions are based on a survey of 640 large companies, which represent 13.5 million US workers. Specifically, they reported that salaried exempt employees will see an average salary increase of 2.5% in 2009; executive pay increases will be 2.2%, and salaried nonexempt workers will see pay increases of 2.6%.
As might be expected, the lowest pay increases were found in industries that had suffered the most economically. The auto industry had pay raises average 1.4% for salaried exempt and salaried nonexempt employees, and 1.3% for auto industry executives (down from 4% last year). Industries with above-average salary increases included construction/engineering (4.5%), research and development (4%), and pharmaceutical (3.9%).