Canada
Toronto, 18 August 2010

It’s back to cautious normal as most organizations plan to grant salary increases based on conservative budgets.

Canadian employers report they awarded pay increases this year as planned in 2009 and project average base pay increases of 2.9 per cent for 2011.

The number of organizations that froze salaries dropped dramatically, from 31 per cent in 2009 to 6 per cent in 2010.  Only  2 per cent of organizations are projecting an all-employee salary freeze for 2011. 

This edition of the Mercer Compensation Planning survey includes responses from over 600 employers in Canada, and a total of 845,340 non-union employees. 

Signals on the economic recovery have been mixed but employers show some optimism in projected salary budgets. The 2.9 per cent salary increase planned for 2011 is up over the increases awarded this year (2.7 per cent) and well ahead of the 2.0 per cent awarded in 2009. 

Employers project similar increases for all categories of employees (executive, management, professional, trades and clerical) at either 2.8 or 2.9 per cent.  Historically, increases for the executive employee group tracked higher than other employee groups.  Recent years have seen increases for executives come into alignment with the rest of the employee population.

The Oil and Gas and Natural Resources sectors continue to project the largest salary increase budgets.  Reductions in planned budgets in the Public Sector may be attributed to legislated compensation restraint in Ontario and Québec.  High Technology and Telecommunications, which reported below average increases in 2010, is projecting an increase above average in 2011.

Projected increases are comparable across the country, ranging from 2.7 per cent in parts of Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Manitoba and the Territories to 2.9 per cent in Alberta.  Limited differences reflect that the majority of organizations do not differentiate salary increase budgets by geography but rather reflect a national scale.  

  Click here to see the list of 2011 Compensation Planning events

About Mercer

Mercer is a leading global provider of consulting, outsourcing and investment services. Mercer works with clients to solve their most complex benefit and human capital issues, designing and helping manage health, retirement and other benefits. It is a leader in benefit outsourcing. Mercer’s investment services include investment consulting and multi-manager investment management. Mercer’s 18,000 employees are based in more than 40 countries. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., which lists its stock (ticker symbol: MMC) on the New York, Chicago and London stock exchanges. For more information, visit www.mercer.ca