More Early Salary Budget Data: Salary Increases Look to Hold Steady in 2009

Preliminary results from the CompData 2008 survey shows pay budgets essentially remaining flat from 2008 to 2009.  According to the survey, salary increase budgets were reported at 3.60% for 2007 and 2008, and are projected to be 3.62% in 2009.

Although these early figures are a little lower than those released at the beginning of May by Economic Research Institute, which reported average 2008 salary increase budgets of 4.1% and 2009 projections of 4.0%, they do reinforce the theme of flatness.  Based at least on what we are seeing so far, it doesn't appear that 2009 increases, on average, will be substantively different from 2008. 

More to come on this, as some of the largest salary budget surveys will be releasing results later into the summer.

Comments

[E. James (Jim) Brennan]

Be aware that ERI salary budget projections will always differ from others' because (a) our evergreen survey is continually updated, (b) we adjust for employer size (because we found after 9/11 a major bifurcation in pay practices between different-sized enterprises) and (c) we further adjust volunteered plans to reflect the influence of the current-trending economic factors that alter what management committees permit their HR/Comp people to actually disburse out of their initial recommendations.

We have found there are two kinds of budget report projections: what people initially propose to do and what they will actually do. Some report the former, but we try to report the latter.

[Ann Bares]

Jim:

Thanks for weighing in and providing the additional clarification.