^[1]U.S. salary merit increases for 2013 are forecast to be 3.0 percent, at median, according to a survey of 270 large, multi-national companies., according to survey results released by Empsight International LLC ^[2].

These survey findings, released by Empsight International LLC, are in spite of recent mixed economic news relative to the growth levels in the United States and the continued uncertainty relative to the sovereign debt issue in Europe. This forecast is also 1.3 percent above the 1.7 percent all items inflation index through June, representing a real gain in income.

This is encouraging to say the least. Maybe things are finally turning around!

“Large companies have moved away from salary freezes over the past two years and now have significant concerns in relation to employee retention, pay competitiveness, and skill shortages,” said Vincent McHugh, managing director of Empsight and author of the survey. “With graduate unemployment for those 25 and over at 4.1 percent, those concerns are well founded for professional positions,” he added.

Other survey findings include the following:

• More than 70 percent of participants have revenues over $5 billion, representing some of the largest companies in the United States.
• 9.2 percent of companies reported providing catch-up or remedial salary increases in 2012.
• 52.3 percent of companies reported skill shortages as a concern.
• 69.4 percent of companies rated employee retention as a concern.
• 62.1 percent of companies reported compensation competitiveness as an issue of concern.
• 75.4 percent of companies set their base salary competitive position at the median of the marketplace.
• 76.9 percent of companies indicated that their actual base salary practice aligns with their desired competitive position in the marketplace.
• 2.7 percent was reported as the Average Salary Merit Increase in 2012, with a median value of 3.0 percent.
• The oil/gas/service industry segment at 3.3 percent had the highest average salary merit increase for 2012, while the Telecom/Cable/Satellite sector had the lowest average at 2.41 percent.
• The budget allocated for promotional increases had a median value of 0.5 percent.

Empsight conducts a survey on salary Merit Increases and Merit Forecasts twice per year at mid-year and at year-end, and distributes them free to clients to assist them in their budgeting process.