Survey Predicts Inflation to Outweigh Wage Increases
12 November 2012 at 9:33 am
Australian companies are forecasting a 4% increase in salaries in 2013, according to the Salary Trends Survey by international assignee management firm, ECA International.
But the management firm says that higher inflation next year means that employees will actually be less well off in real terms.
“For the third year in a row Australians can expect 4% increases to their salaries,” ECA International’s general manager Anna Michielsen said.
“However, with annual inflation in Australia predicted to be 2.6% for 2013, real wage increases i.e. the difference between actual salary increases and inflation, will be 1.4%.
“This is the third lowest in the region and down from this year’s 2% real wage increments. Nevertheless, it still remains at a significantly higher level than the previous decade when salary increases in real terms were lucky to get near 0.5%,” she said.
The ECA Salary Trends Survey 2012/2013 reports current-year salary increases for local national employees and the anticipated increases for reviews in the forthcoming year.
ECA says that the survey is based on information collected from 322 multinational companies for 65 countries and is used by international companies to monitor and benchmark company salary increases in local markets around the world.
The survey reveals that the average salary increase in the Asia Pacific region be 6.2% in 2013, the same as this year. Overall this average is still higher than those forecast for Europe (3.3%) and North America (3%).
ECA says that the ongoing economic uncertainties in Europe as well as lingering worries about the US will impact wage increases globally.
“In the vast majority of countries surveyed, salary increases predicted for next year are the same or lower than last year. It is anticipated that global salaries will go up by 5.5%, slightly lower than this year's 5.6%,” it said.
