U.S. Employers Lag Behind in Giving Raises

 

March 12, 2007 -- U.S. employers are lagging behind China, India, and Eastern Europe when it comes to giving their employees a raise, a recent study shows.

While administrative, professional, and senior management employees in the United States are expected to get a 1.4 percent pay increase this year, those in China and India will be getting closer to 8 percent, according to the Hay Group, a Philadelphia-based global consulting firm. The figures are adjusted for inflation.

Overall, employers in China, India, Slovakia, Lithuania, and Indonesia were all expected to dish out higher raises in 2007, the study found.

"The wealth created by rapid, focused economic development is resulting in a pay boom for Chinese and Indian workers, who will enjoy some of the largest real pay increases worldwide in 2007," Hern Yin Goh, director of the firm's reward information services in Shanghai, said in a statement.

Globally, Chinese workers will see the highest increases, including a 7.9 percent hike for administrative workers, 7.8 percent for professionals, and 5.9 percent for administrators, the study found.

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