Insurance Salary Forecast: Up

The median salary increase budget forecast for 2010 for all companies will average 3%, down 0.5 % from this year, the Conference Board found.

The survey uses the term “salary increase budgets” to refer to the pool of money an organization dedicates to salary increases for the coming year. Generally, it is represented as a percentage of current payroll.

In 2009, companies made downward adjustments in their salary increases as the economy worsened, the researchers say. The median salary increase budgets dropped from 3.5% to 2.5% for all employee categories except executive, which fell from 3.5% to 1.5%).

The typical employer is still budgeting for salary increases ahead of inflation in 2010, the researchers say, noting that the Conference Board projects a 2% inflation rate for 2010/