Recently released survey results maintain most American workers are unlikely to see sizeable increases in their salaries in 2018.
Research findings from the global professional services firm Aon’s 2017 U.S. Salary Increase Survey, in which 1,062 companies participated, projects base pay is expected to be 3.0 percent in 2018 – up slightly from 2.9 percent in 2017.
The survey referenced, conversely, spending on variable pay is expected to be 12.5 percent of payroll, representing a decrease to levels not seen since 2013.
“The economic outlook for most industries continues to improve with increased demand for goods and services and stronger job creation, but companies remain under pressure to increase productivity and minimize costs,” Ken Abosch, broad-based compensation leader at Aon, said. “As a result, we continue to see relatively flat salary increase budgets across employee groups, with most organizations continuing to tie the majority of their compensation budgets to pay incentives that reward for performance and business results.”
The survey results noted more than two-thirds of employers are taking some type of action to increase merit pay differentiation in 2018.
The survey pointed out workers in the automotive, computer, accounting/consulting/legal. and telecommunications industries are expected to see higher-than-average salary increases in 2018, while workers in education, construction/engineering and medical devices are expected to see lower-than-average increases.