Early 2019 Salary Projections
September 9, 2019
CNI Recruiting and our subsidiary company Best Recruiting publish U.S. salary projections twice each year.  The following is our Early 2019 U.S. Salary Projection. The Final 2019 Salary Projection will be released in November 2018.
U.S. SALARY PROJECTIONS FOR 2019
CNI Recruiting compiled 2019 Salary Projections from surveys performed by the following respected sources.
• Salary.com (Compensation data) 3%
• Willis Towers Watson (Data services) 3.1%
• WorldatWork (Compensation data) 3.1%
• HR Dive (HR news and analysis ) 3.2%
• The Conference Board (Business research) 3.0%
• Hay Group (Compensation consulting) 2.9%
• Society for Human Resource Managers (Human resources membership firm) 3.2%
ANALYSIS
In 2018 employers have experienced tax reform, a tightening job market, decreasing unemployment rate, rising turnover rate and increasing competition for talent. Notwithstanding these developments, the average salary increase projected for 2019 is 3.1%, which is the same as the projection for 2018. According to the Society For Human Resource Management (SHRM), non-exempt employees will average a 3.1% increase and exempt employees will average a 3.2% increase. Also, it is important to note that over 50% of all salary increases will go to top performers.
Of course projections for salary increases in some segments of the job market are much higher than the average. Some of these segments are salaried employees at small companies (3.4%); all employees at large, privately held companies (3.6%); job switchers in construction (7.1%) and job switchers in professional and business services (9.1%). In addition, more employees are being promoted and the amounts of the raises associated with those promotions are increasing.
A trend over the past few years that is contributing to the modest level of salary increases and that is projected to continue in 2019 is the increased use of variable compensation, such as bonuses instead of increases in salary. This is because variable compensation is not a permanent adjustment and doesn’t compound over time. Cash awards based on company or unit success and individual performance are projected to be the most prevalent type of variable pay. A survey conducted by Indeed determined that companies are projecting that discretionary bonuses for one-time achievements will average 5.9% of salary for exempt employees.
Another trend that is projected to continue into 2019 is that market rates for top performers for certain jobs will continue to exceed the amounts that many employers are willing to pay. This will have a profound effect on turnover and job tenure. A 2018 survey of 1,004 U.S. full-time employees in sales, office and management/professional occupations by Accounting Principals and Ajilon reinforces the existence of this trend. The survey found that (1) 43.2% of workers would be enticed to leave their company if offered better compensation and (2) 25.7% of employees are actively seeking new job opportunities and 55.5% are passively open to new job opportunities.
As might be expected, the tight labor market is causing significant changes in hiring practices, as employers find it increasingly difficult to hire skilled talent. For example, according to the ADP Research Institute, job switchers who are 55 and older are receiving increased wages of 6.3%.
CNI RECRUITING
CNI Recruiting recruits Sales, Marketing, Operations and IT candidates at all professional levels for Commercial and Healthcare organizations. We are located in New Jersey and recruit throughout the U.S. We maintain an internal database of over 120,000 qualified candidates that allows us to quickly refer candidates who meet your job, cultural and budgetary requirements, often within days of receiving a job order. Our referral fee is only 10% of candidate first year base salary including executive searches. We provide World Class Service and a market leading guarantee in the event a candidate resigns or is terminated for any reason within of 120 days of date of hire.
Please contact us today for recruiting assistance. Just call (908) 874-6148, email [email protected], or fill out the form below. We will exceed your expectations.
Fred Neufeld
President
CNI Recruiting
www.cnirecruiting.com
