U.S. Salary Merit Increases for 2013 are forecasted to be 3.0%, at Median, according to a survey of 270 large multi-national companies, just released by Empsight International, LLC. This is 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% above the 1.7% all items inflation index through June, representing a real gain in income.

"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 survey author. "With graduate unemployment for those 25 and over at 4.1%, those concerns are well founded for professional positions," he added.

Other Survey findings include:

• More than 70% of participants have revenues over $5 billion, representing some of the largest companies in the United States
• 9.2% of companies reported providing catch-up or remedial salary increases in 2012
• 52.3% of companies reported Skill Shortages as a Concern -- 69.4% of companies rated Employee Retention as a Concern -- 62.1% of companies reported Compensation Competitiveness as an issue of concern
• 75.4% of companies set their Base Salary competitive position at the Median of the marketplace
• 76.9% of companies indicated that their actual Base Salary practice aligns with their desired competitive position in the marketplace 
• 2.70% was reported as the Average Salary Merit Increase in 2012, with a Median value of 3.0%
• The Oil/Gas/Service industry segment at 3.30% had the highest Average Salary merit increase for 2012, while the Telecom/Cable/Satellite secord had the lowest Average at 2.41%
• The budget allocated for Promotional Increases had a Median value of 0.50%

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. The survey is downloadable for free at this link:

http://www.empsight.com/policiespracticesmeritreport