Pay hikes coming from majority of US employers: survey
Mornings with Maria panel on the July jobs report and the state of the U.S. job market.
A majority of U.S. employers expect to give out pay raises by the end of the year, according to a CareerBuilder survey published Friday.
Fifty-eight percent of employers plan to increase compensation for current employees, the survey found. CareerBuilder said 24% of all employers will increase wages by 5% on average.
Job seekers are also poised to benefit, as 45% of employees plan to offer higher starting salaries to attract new hires.
“Low unemployment and increasing skills gaps continue to plague employers who are struggling to fill roles at all levels within their organizations,” CareerBuilder CEO Matt Ferguson said in a news release, adding that 50% of employers say it’s taking longer to fill jobs today than ever before.
Wages have been slow to rise despite record-low unemployment. In July, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.9% as the economy added 157,000 jobs, the Labor Department said Friday. The monthly jobs report also included upward revisions to the government’s previous estimates for May and June job gains. Wage growth, however, remained level month-to-month at 2.7%.
CareerBuilder’s midyear survey also found that 63% of employers plan to hire full-time, permanent workers in the second half of 2018, up from 60% a year ago.
In addition to higher salaries, companies are using extra perks such as casual dress codes, employee discounts, signing bonuses and extra time off to compete for new hires in a tight job market, CareerBuilder said.