Salaried employees in the Milwaukee market have seen pay increases of 2.6 percent in 2012, a tad below the national average of 2.8 percent, according to Aon Hewitt’s Salary Increase Survey.
In 2013, salaried workers in Milwaukee can expect to see increases of 2.9 percent, a slight increase, but still below the national average of 3.0 percent, according to the survey.
The new survey by Aon Hewitt, the Lincolnshire, Ill.-based global human resources solutions business of Aon plc, reveals that salaries for U.S. workers continue to rise incrementally as concerns remain about the stability of the global economy. However, workers have the potential to offset low base pay increases through performance-based awards, the survey said.
According to Aon Hewitt’s survey of more than 1,300 U.S. companies, base pay increases for salaried exempt workers were 2.8 percent in 2012, up marginally from 2.7 percent in 2011. Salaries have inched upwards year-over-year since 2009 when pay increases reached an all-time low of 1.8 percent.
“It is unlikely that salary increases will reach pre-recession levels of 4 .0 percent or higher any time soon,” said 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.”
