Survey: Salaries to show modest increases in 2011

New York City The Conference Board annual salary increase budgets report, released Tuesday, found that while U.S. salary increase budgets remain historically low, projections for 2011 show a modest increase.

For the second straight year, the median salary increase budget is 2.5%, according to the survey. Projections for 2011 show salary budgets edging up 3%.

“This less-than-robust increase is an indication that the economic recovery has not yet picked up enough strength to significantly raise salary budgets to a level consistent with a healthy economy,” said Christopher Woock, researcher, human capital, The Conference Board. “But the news is not all grim. There appears to be little risk of inflation eroding the real value of the increase.”

The lowest median salary increase budget forecast for 2011 is in the transportation industry — 2.25% for exempt employees and executives. Across industries, the 2011 forecast for salary increase budgets showed little variation, with no employee group in any industry projected to exceed the overall median of 3%.