Labor & Employment Law

Your 2009 Raise is Going DOWN

World at Work recently issued the results of a recent survey on compensation budget increases for employees for 2009.  The issue relates to whether employers, in light of the economy, are decreasing their salary budgets for 2009 from their original estimates/budgets.  Results from the WorldatWork Special Update: 2008-09 Salary Budget Survey (of over 1000 employers):

• Across all employee categories, industries and regions, employers plan to lower their 2009 salary budget increase projections by 0.8 percentage points.
• Average salary budget increases this year will be 3.1% compared to 3.9% when data was first collected in April 2008.
• 77% of the workforce can still expect to receive base pay raises.
• Metropolitan areas with the largest projected salary budget increases of 3.1% are: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
• Half of participating organizations (51%) made changes to their 2009 projected salary budget increases, with more than 90% of those making changes lowering their salary budget increases by an average of 1.6%.
• For exempt salaried employees, 10% of participating organizations will be freezing pay in 2009.
• For organizations reducing salary budget increases, 19% to 33% are cutting salary increase budgets to zero.

Ouch.  For more information regarding the survey:

Three Out of Four U.S. Employees Can Expect a Raise in 2009

Full post as published by Strategic HR Lawyer on February 12, 2009 (boomark / email).