Preliminary results from Culpepper's annual survey of salary budgets reveal that global base salary increase budgets have risen by an average of 51 percent from 1.89% in 2009 to 2.85% in 2010 (see below for U.S. data). The survey was conducted from late June through mid August, 2009.

Key Findings from the study:

• The number of companies freezing salaries is projected to decline from 37 percent in 2009 to 13 percent in 2010.
• Excluding salary freezes (companies projecting a 0% increase), global base salary increase budgets are projected to increase slightly from 3.18% in 2009 to 3.27% in 2010.
• Base salary increases in the U.S. are projected to increase from 1.63% in 2009 to 2.65% in 2010. Excluding organizations projecting a 0% increase budget, salary increases in the U.S. are projected to hold relatively steady from 3.08% in 2009 to 3.07% in 2010.
• Base salary increases in Canada are projected to increase from 1.13% in 2009 to 2.38% in 2010. Excluding freezes, salary increases in Canada are projected to increase slightly from 2.95% in 2009 to 3.02% in 2010.
• Base salary range structure increases are projected to increase from 1.18% in 2009 to 1.61% in 2010. Excluding freezes, salary range structure increases are projected to decline slightly from 2.84% in 2009 to 2.70% in 2010.
• Additional breakouts and data for over 80 additional countries will be published in the final report, available September 2, 2009.

Salary increase budgets have changed dramatically over the past year. In August 2008, before the global economic crisis unfolded, average base salary increases exceeded four percent (Figure 1) and only two percent of companies were freezing salaries (Figure 2). From late 2008 through mid-2009, the number of companies freezing salaries increased to 37 percent, which drove average base salary increases below two percent.

Overall, projections for 2010 have improved significantly compared to 2009. However, a relatively high number of companies plan to freeze salaries in 2010, and average projected base salary increases are still much lower than recent years.

Data Source: Culpepper Trends Survey of 714 participating organizations reporting salary increase data.

Availability of Final Results:
A comprehensive report with final results and analysis from our recent survey, 2009-2010 Salary Budget & Planning Survey, will be available by September 2, 2009. The final comprehensive report will include data breakouts for the U.S. and Canada by job function/level, number of employees, and industry sector. Additional breakouts will be available for 90 countries and 16 international geographic regions.

Source: Culpepper Trends Surveys, August 2009, www.culpepper.com.

Full disclosure: Culpepper is a strategic partner of the StrategicPay Series.