Non-Blue-Collar Workers Get 5.5% Average Pay Hike

CHICAGO — Executives, salaried and non-union hourly workers got average base salary increases of 5.5% this year, a survey of nearly 1,500 U.S. employers found.

Next year’s figure is expected to decline to 5.4%, well below the 10% average pay raise for the same groups in 1981, said the study by Hewitt Associates, a compensation consulting firm.

“Back then, we were coming back from a series of major economic setbacks, including the Arab oil embargo, and employers felt the need to provide increases,” Hewitt consultant Frank Belmonte said.

He noted the inflation rate was 13% in 1980, compared to 4.8% in 1989.

And, although the United States is embroiled in another oil crisis, the consulting firm believes the figures supplied by employers earlier this year will hold up.

The increases for 1990, Hewitt said, break down to 5.9% for executives, 5.5% for salaried employees exempt from federal overtime laws and 5.3% for those not exempt from such measures.

Hourly non-union employees, meanwhile, got raises of 4.9%.