Your Raise is Safe for Now - 28-Oct-2008

Despite
the downturn, many employers are keeping their salaries for employees
steady or keeping raises in place..assuming you still have a job, that
is.

Amongst your primary concerns over the economy, keeping your job is
likely the most important one that you have. Second on that list,
however, is whether you’ll still be able to obtain a raise to at the
very least keep pace with inflation as living expenses continue their
seemingly unstoppable climb upward. The concern over your job is
certainly valid, as unemployment has risen to six percent and many
economists have predicted (I know, not the gold standard of accuracy,
work with me here) that it could rise into the double digits in coming
months/years. By and large, however, most employers will continue to
give out raises, assuming you still have your job anyway, according to
a recent article in the Wall Street Journal.

A
New York firm, Mercer, recently looked at the 2009 salary and budget
projections for about 190 midsize and large companies in the U.S. The
majority, or about 58 percent, said that they’d be keeping their
projections at the same level. That leaves 24 percent that did make
changes, but only by a half percentage point. Shockingly, 18 percent
that actually made raises to their salary projections. This means that
if you have a job, the odds are that your raise is still locked in.