RSC reviewed several sources of 2021 pay planning information and compiled the summary statistics we believe are most relevant and helpful.
Our findings indicate that actual increases for 2020 fell well shy of original projections due to COVID and other associated economic issues. As you can see from 2019 data, actual increases are much closer to projections projections for the same period. Projections for 2021 are more consistent with actual results from 2020 than projections for that same year.
More specifically, WorldatWork reports an average projected total salary increase of 2.9% across employee types.
Researchers other than WorldatWork reported an expected 2.6% to 3.2% salary increase budget for 2019 across U.S. market sectors. The mean actual increases are also below original projections and there is more variance by market sector than in past years.
Outside the U.S., research suggests that 2021 increase projections will be higher than actual increases in 2020 among major labor markets. As presented in the table below, there is significant variance in projections by country particularly in Asia.
About RSC Advisory Group
RSC Advisory Group, LLC is a management advisory and consulting firm specializing in pay and performance. The RSC team is comprised of long-time senior advisors and technical specialists who work with clients across the United States and internationally. We employ a client-centric approach to help clients in several compensation areas:
- Board & Executive Total Compensation
- Employee Pay & Total Rewards
- Sales Compensation
- Global Remuneration
- Compensation Surveys & Research