Kansas City, Kan.— The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported the unemployment rate at just over 8 percent as of May 2012. Though the unemployment rate seems to be slowly declining, pay increase budgets are idling. The Compdata Surveys 2012 Compensation Data Utilities survey results show pay increase budgets have remained relatively stable at 2.8 percent, compared to 2.7 percent reported in 2011 and 2.8 percent in 2010. Pay increase budgets are projected to slightly increase to 2.9 percent in 2013.
Pay increase budgets vary by industry as electric power generation, transmission and distribution companies and natural gas transmission and distribution companies report the highest 2012 budget at 2.9 percent. Water and sewage companies follow at 2.7 percent. Cable and telephone employers report the lowest pay increase budget, 2.6 percent. Utilities organizations who reported making adjustments to their pay ranges this year have reported an average adjustment of 1.9 percent, with 2 percent projected for 2013.
“For the past few years, pay increase budgets for many industries have stagnated or experienced only lukewarm increases,” said Amy Kaminski, director of marketing for Compdata Surveys. “This will likely continue to be the trend until employers begin to feel economically comfortable.”
Pay increase budgets are used to make many different types of adjustments to employees’ salaries. Nearly 72 percent of utilities organizations report using pay increase budgets for merit increases. Twenty-two percent offer promotional increases, while 17.7 percent use pay increase budgets for market adjustments. Only 9.7 percent of organizations utilize pay increase budgets to implement cost of living adjustments.
About the Survey
Compensation Data 2012 Utilities provides a comprehensive summary of pay data, benefits information and pay practices with an effective date of February 1, 2012. More than 100 industry-specific job titles and 400 benchmark titles were surveyed ranging from entry-level to top executives, with data collected from more than 1,200 utilities employers across the country.
Compdata Surveys has been providing comprehensive data at affordable prices to organizations from coast to coast since 1988 and is the nation’s leading compensation and benefits survey data provider. Thousands of organizations provide data in each of our eight industry specific surveys each year, ensuring the reliability of our results. For more information about the compensation and benefits surveys, contact Michelle Willis at (800) 300-9570.
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