Results from Morneau Shepell’s 30th annual Compensation – Trends and Projections survey released today suggest that Canadian employers expect salaries to rise in 2013 by an average of 2.6%. This projection is slightly lower than that forecasted by Mercer in its compensation survey, which were reported yesterday.
The projected rate of growth represents a 0.2% drop from the average expected by respondents in last year’s survey. Expected salary freezes are figured into the 2.6% target, while promotional or special salary adjustments are excluded. Respondents to this year’s survey are projecting base salary increases for 2013 within the range observed last year of between 2% and 3.5%.
Finance to see biggest drop
Employer respondents from the finance sector expect the greatest decline in salary increases, with forecasted raises averaging 2.7% for management and professionals in 2013, compared to 3.4% last year.
“While insurance companies are hurt by low interest rates, growth prospects in the banking sector are dimmed by the anticipated weakness of the global economy and by the level of consumer debt in Canada,” says Michel Dubé, principal at Morneau Shepell. “We see this impacting salary increases for next year in the financial sector.”
The survey was conducted between mid-June and mid-August 2012. More than 250 organizations took part, collectively employing one million people in Canada. from the majority of employer respondents came from the manufacturing (28%), services (24%) and finance (14%) sectors.