Global Pay Raises Will Exceed Inflation Rates, Report Finds

U.S. pay raises are expected to range between 4.1% and 4.4% in 2001 compared with an inflation rate of 2.7%. In Japan, most raises will be around 3%, even though the inflation rate is expected to be 0.5%. In Germany, expect raises of between 2.6% for blue-collar workers and 3.9% for top management compared with an inflation rate of 1.4%. The recently released "2001 Global Compensation Planning Report" by William M. Mercer Inc. also found that Romanians will get raises of about 27%, and employees in Venezuela raises of 20% -- but those workers will actually lose ground because inflation in those countries is expected to be a percentage point higher. And apparently, workers in Mexico will benefit most from their raises and Russians the least. Mercer projects pay increases of 12.5% to 14.5% for Mexican workers, compared with a projected inflation rate of 8.5% in that country. Conversely, even though the inflation rate in Russia is expected to be 18%, salaries are projected to increase between 4.3% and 6%.