Banking on a Pay Raise? Don't Count on It

By: Daniel Carty
Topics: Jobs

(iStockphoto)

American workers probably shouldn't bank on a significant pay raise next year, according to two private surveys released Tuesday.

Consultancies Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc. and Hay Group found that median pay raises for 2009 fell between 2 percent and 3 percent, with early predictions for 2010 not much better, according to a Wall Street Journal report Tuesday.

Salaries in 2010 are expected to climb a little more than 3 percent – the smallest forecasted increase in the 29 years Hay Group has tracked pay data. Watson Wyatt said its prediction is among the lowest ever.

The consulting firms had predicted salaries would jump 3.5 percent to 4 percent over the last year. Both surveys included salaried employees and hourly wage workers.

Official reports are in line with the forecasts. The U.S. Labor Department reported average pay increases fell to 2.2 percent in the 12-month period ending March 31, down from 3.2 percent from a year earlier.

The new findings are hardly surprising. Employers have bee scrambling to reduce costs since the country slid into a deep recession that it has yet to climb out of, though many economists expect to see economic growth at some point in 2010. Jobs have been slashed and some workers have been given outright pay cuts or forced to take unpaid furloughs.

Considering the country's economic problems, some workers may not even consider stagnating wages to be all that much of a problem.

"Today, people are more focused on job security than they are on a pay increase," David Wise, a senior consultant at Hay Group told the Journal. "If they can keep a job, they're already ahead of the game."

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by mrjustice1 July 28, 2009 3:00 AM EDT: OPEN ALL SECRET AND ALL OFFSHORE BANK ACCOUNTS

Can anyone tell us how beneficial these secret accounts have been to the world's honest, productive, working people?

What other conclusions can we draw from the reasons of secret and offshore bank accounts?

It is hoped that the answers will be posted here soon for all the world to see!; Reply to this comment


by mrjustice1 July 28, 2009 2:29 AM EDT: LET THE SUPER-RICH AND THE PARASITIC WALL ST 'FINANCIERS', INVESTMENT BANKERS, BROKERS, LAWYERS, ACCOUNTANTS, AND OTHER OF THEIR AGENTS...

...clean toilets, scrub floors, and undertake positions of hard-labor as their just desserts, thereby FINALLY CONTRIBUTING to the communities and societies they have destroyed!; Reply to this comment


by mrjustice1 July 28, 2009 2:22 AM EDT: LENGTHY PRISON TERMS WITH HARD LABOR, SEIZURE OF ASSETS, MONIES, AND PROPERTY FROM THESE PARASITIC FINANCIERS WOULD NOT BE INAPPROPRIATE

In addition to harsher penalties and seizure of their assets, monies, properties, as well as the personal possessions, of investment bankers, brokers, financial advisers, 'financiers', etc - including the same for their lawyers and their accountants - it can be argued that in some cases, execution can also be justified, particularly for those individuals who schemed with intent to defraud, consequentially destroying lives of their victims...

The subject Wall St and other parasitic individuals who are responsible for the financial/economic destruction of America, MUST BE treated with no mercy!

REDISTRIBUTING THE WEALTH OF GREEDY OR CROOKED 'WALL STREETERS',CROOKED 'FINANCIERS', INVESTMENT BANKERS, THEIR LAWYERS AND THEIR AGENTS, THE SUPER-RICH, ETC, IS VERY JUSTIFIABLE - ESPECIALLY IN VIEW OF THE FINANCIAL DESTRUCTION THEY HAVE CAUSED TO SO MANY!!!; Reply to this comment


by anti-global2 July 23, 2009 12:08 PM EDT: Is the company banking on increased productivity? Don't count on it. If I am not getting paid more I will not produce more.; Reply to this comment


by clancy49 July 21, 2009 2:34 PM EDT: I am a public employee. I haven't had a pay increase in five years and they want to reduce my pay. Aren't I lucky to have a job? How do you live when you don't get a pay raise but food costs soar, electricity rates climb, gas prices are raised, taxes are increased, interest rates skyrocket, and rents are doubled in five years? How does one live? On less and less and less while the greedy get more and more and more until finally they squeeze the life from you.; Reply to this comment


by John_Merritt July 21, 2009 2:01 PM EDT: When a person does not have a job, any pay will do. I think those that have jobs will be glad to just keep them and benefits. If inflation does not rear it's ugly head than they will have a chance to regroup for a better day. Staying focussed on your goals are the best one can hope for in this world and economy.; Reply to this comment


by hornman120 July 21, 2009 1:27 PM EDT: Unless you're a public employee. In that case the usual assortment of Step Raises, Cost of Living Raises, Longevity Pay Raises, and in some cases Merit Raises. All of this without regard to individual performance and well documented declines in tax revenues.; Reply to this comment


by grabandgo July 21, 2009 12:49 PM EDT: The only people getting pay raises are the greedy exec's
that took the bail out money and rewarded themselves.
Tax cheat timmy and barry nobama just sat there and did nothing about it!; Reply to this comment


by proud_churchgoer July 21, 2009 12:02 PM EDT: At the family business some liberals demanded a pay raise and we fired them and shipped their jobs to China.; Reply to this comment