2025 Salary Budgeting Trends: Navigating Pay Increases and Pay Equity Adjustments

It’s that time of year again: time to do salary budgeting for next year. (Cue the confetti – HA!)

According to WorldatWork’s 2024-2025 Salary Budget Survey with 2,249 participating organizations, U.S. organizations have projected mean salary increase budgets of 3.8% in 2025, which is slightly down from the past two years’ actual figures. This trend reflects what is taking place on a global scale.
The new research also revealed 2024 actual mean salary increase budgets in the U.S. are 3.9%, a bit lower than the 4.1% increases employers projected for 2024.

Pay Equity remains a focus across the U.S. as well as in Canada, the U.K. and India. Most organizations participating in the WorldatWork survey anticipate making salary adjustments in 2025 to remedy pay equity issues. Pay equity adjustments may include those required to ensure needed internal equity among employees in same or similar job titles, and those needed to ensure appropriate comparisons in pay between groups of employees.

The Salary Budgeting Survey continues to underscore the need for good data when embarking on compensation planning and structure work. If you aren’t sure what market data for your organization’s jobs looks like, reach out to us at laura@conoverconsulting.com for guidance.