Canada forecasting increase of 3 per cent for 2014: Survey
Year-over-year salary budgets declined in every country except the United States, according to the annual WorldatWork 2013-2014 Salary Budget Survey. While the U.S. holds steady, other countries appear to be stepping back, according to the survey of 5,207 respondents from 17 countries.
Canada forecast gains of three per cent in 2013 but actual increases were 2.9 per cent. It is expecting to see salary budgets rise by three per cent in 2014.
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| Actual 2012 | Actual 2013 | Projected 2014 |
| India | 11.2% | 10.5% | 10.9% |
| China | 9.1% | 8.2% | 8.5% |
| Brazil | 7.7% | 6.8% | 7.2% |
| Singapore | 4.3% | 4.2% | 4.3% |
| Australia | 4% | 3.7% | 3.8% |
| U.K. | 3.1% | 2.9% | 3% |
| Netherlands | 3.1% | 2.8% | 2.8% |
| Canada | 3% | 2.9% | 3% |
| France | 3% | 2.7% | 2.8% |
| Germany | 3% | 2.9% | 3% |
| U.S. | 2.8% | 2.9% | 3.1% |
| Spain | 2.8% | 2.4% | 2.5% |
| Japan | 2.6% | 2.4% | 2.5% |
“The gradual increases in the U.S. are good short-term news, but falling pay budgets in every other industrialized country isn’t great news for the global economy, on which U.S. economic growth is so dependent,” said Kerry Chou, senior compensation practice leader for WorldatWork.
“Salary budgets generally reflect what is going on in the national economy,” said Chou. “A nervous economic recovery creates nervous employers who are hesitant about making significant changes to their salary budgets and other fixed costs but are making an effort to find other ways to reward employees.”
And although it may appear organizations in India are the most generous, the 10.5 per cent average wage increase this year is offset by annual inflation approaching 10 per cent.
“This means workers in India are not better off than workers in countries where salary increases are below average but still higher than inflation,” said Chou. “Workers in the U.S., for example, are experiencing more buying power since the average 2013 salary budget increase is 2.9 per cent, while the annualized inflation rate, as of April 2013 when survey data was collected, was only 1.1 per cent.”
