Kansas City, Kan.— The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported the unemployment rate at 8.3 percent as of July 2012, up slightly from 8.2 percent in June. Although the unemployment rate has increased over the past couple of months, pay increase budgets are beginning to show small signs of improvement. The 2012 Compensation Data Banking & Finance survey results reported pay increase budgets at 2.7 percent, reflecting an increase from 2.6 percent reported in 2010 and 2011.Pay increase budgets are projected to increase to 2.9 percent in 2013.

Pay increase budgets vary slightly by industry as credit unions report the highest 2012 budget at 3.2 percent. Commercial banks and consumer finance and mortgage companies each reflect pay increase budgets of 2.6 percent. Banking and finance organizations who reported making adjustments to their pay ranges this year have reported an average adjustment of 1.7 percent, with 1.9 percent projected for 2013.

"For the past few years, pay increase budgets for many industries have stagnated or experienced only lukewarm increases," said Amy Kaminski, director of marketing for Compdata Surveys. "This will likely continue to be the trend until employers begin to feel economically comfortable."

Pay increase budgets are used to make many different types of adjustments to employees' salaries. Ninety percent of banking and finance organizations report using pay increase budgets for merit increases. More than 40 percent use pay increase budgets to offer promotional increases, while 28.4 percent use them for market adjustments. Only 6.1 percent of organizations utilize pay increase budgets to implement cost of living adjustments.

About the Survey
Compensation Data 2012 Banking & Finance provides a comprehensive summary of pay data, benefits information and pay practices with an effective date of February 1, 2012. More than 100 industry-specific job titles and 400 benchmark titles were surveyed ranging from entry-level to top executives, with data collected from nearly 12,000 banking and finance organizations across the country.

Compdata Surveys has been providing comprehensive data at affordable prices to organizations from coast to coast since 1988 and is the nation's leading compensation and benefits survey data provider. Thousands of organizations provide data in each of our eight industry specific surveys each year, ensuring the reliability of our results. For more information about the compensation and benefits surveys, contact Michelle Willis at (800) 300-9570.

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