Private sector pay awards will increase only marginally in 2012 when compared to this year, with the most common influences on settlements likely to be company performance and simply the ability to finance them.
Research on the intentions of 286 firms employing a total of 800,000 workers revealed that the median award for the year ending 31 August 2012 is expected to be 2.5% compared with 2.3% for the whole of 2011.
Sheila Attwood, pay and benefits editor at online information service XpertHR, which conducted the survey, said: “Pay award levels have been subdued for several years now, and although a median pay increase of 2.5% in 2012 is above the levels we are currently seeing, it is still well below pre-recession levels, and inflation.”
Retail price index inflation rates are forecast to average 3.6% over the course of next year, but only 16.4% of all pay awards are predicted to be either at or above that figure, she added.
Some 24.1% of settlements are anticipated to come in at 3%, with employers in the chemical, engineering and utilities industries most likely to go down this route.
But a further 23% are likely to be around the 2% mark, with organisations in the not-for-profit, retail and construction sectors expected to offer workers the lowest pay rises.
Data from mysalarychecker.com, meanwhile, indicated that the average advertised salary for admin and non-professional personnel fell slightly by 0. 23% during September as unemployment continued to rise.
Recruitment agency Office Angels said of the situation in a statement: “Employers are increasingly able to take advantage of an accessible pool of available talent, keen to secure work and negotiate on salary”.
