Salaries for U.S. workers continue to rise incrementally, but workers can offset low base pay increases through performance-based awards, new research reveals.
Aon Hewitt, the global human resources solutions business of Aon plc (NYSE: AON), Lake Forest, Ill., published this finding in a summary of results from a survey of more than 1,300 U.S. companies.
The survey finds that base pay increases for salaried exempt workers were 2.8% in 2012, up marginally from 2.7% in 2011. Salaries have inched upwards year-over-year since 2009 when pay increases reached an all-time low of 1.8%.
Pay increases are expected to rise slightly in 2013. For executives, salaried exempt and salaried nonexempt workers, Aon Hewitt projects base pay increases of 3.0% in 2013.
“It is unlikely that salary increases will reach pre-recession levels of 4.0% or higher any time soon,” says Ken Abosch, compensation marketing, strategy and development leader at Aon Hewitt. “Companies are more impacted by the global economy than ever before. As a result, organizations continue to be conservative with their spending, but we anticipate that attitude will remain even after the economy rights itself—holding down spending on base pay is the new normal.”