International remuneration analyst ECA predicts that global average salaries will increase by 5% in 2017. In its latest salary trends survey, ECA finds that salaries around the world increased by 4.8% on average in 2016, slightly down on the predicted 5.1%. It suggests that the predictions for pay growth it made last year were ‘generally accurate’, with 71% being within 0.5 percentage points of the actual median salary increase. The biggest disparity between predicted and actual growth occurred in China and Nigeria, where actual salary increases were 1.5 percentage points lower than expected.
Following the Brexit vote, inflation in the UK is expected to rise to 2.5% in 2017, meaning that UK staff can expect a real increase on average of 0.3% given that actual salaries are predicted to rise by 2.8%.
Overall, the global average rise in real wages is expected to fall slightly in 2017, from 1.6% to 1.5% after taking inflation into account.
ECA Remuneration Analyst, Charlotte Harris, says:
‘For now, wages are continuing in a period of steady growth, with the average regional nominal salary increases having almost recovered to pre-financial crisis levels. While the Asia Pacific region has recovered particularly well, Europe has not quite reached the level of increases experienced before 2008, instead settling at a lower level. With growing uncertainty in Europe, in particular due to the United Kingdom deciding to leave the European Union, it seems unlikely that wage increases will recover to pre-2008 levels in the near future.’