Global Report Reflects Employers’ Salary Budget Conservatism

Across most “major market” countries, salary budget projections for 2027 will be either the same as or slightly lower than 2026 actual outlays, reflecting a more conservative view on increasing fixed compensation costs. That is according to the latest Global Total Rewards Pulse Survey from consulting firm Korn Ferry.

The new report, released July 30, reflected the responses of 5,512 organizations across 135 countries. “Major market” countries included:

• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Japan
• Netherlands
• Saudi Arabia
• Spain
• United Arab Emirates (UAE)
• United Kingdom (U.K.)
• United States (U.S.)

For 2027 salary budget forecasts:

• U.S. survey participants put the average total salary increase at 3.3% and the median increase at 3.0%.
• Eight other countries (Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Spain and U.K.) had median increase percentages of 3.0%.
• Ten other countries (Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Spain, UAE and U.K.) had average increase percentages between 3.0% and 3.5%.
• Brazil had the highest increases (4.8% average, 4.9% median), while France had the lowest (2.6%, 2.8%).

For 2026 salary budget actuals:

• U.S. survey participants put the average increase at 3.4% and the median increase at 3.4%.
• Only three countries had average increases outside of the 3.0% to 3.5% range — Brazil at 5.5%, China at 3.9% and France at 2.7%.

The data points for 2027 U.S. projections and 2026 actuals resemble those found in other recently released salary budget survey reports (see table below). (Check back to the Workspan Daily site in the coming weeks for articles on additional salary budget survey reports.)

Additional findings from the Korn Ferry research showed:

• Across all countries, most surveyed organizations plan to provide annual salary increases to the majority of their employees:
  • 42% of organizations will provide increases to at least 95% of their employees.
  • 77% of organizations will provide increases to at least 80% of their employees.
• Current economic and labor-market realities make flexibility toward compensation decisions increasingly critical for organizations and their HR professionals.

Toward the second bullet, the report noted: “With most organizations in moderate-growth or mixed-signal conditions, rewards leaders should resist both boom-time generosity and downturn austerity and instead design for disciplined, scenario-based flexibility. … Revenue expectations support continued rewards investment, but the real management test is whether organizations use growth to fund differentiated capability-building rather than simply spreading modest increases broadly.”

Data Breakdowns by Country and Employee Groups

The following tables show compensation data, both 2027 projections and 2026 actual outlays, for:

• The 14 “major market” countries, with median increase and average increase percentages for all employees combined; and,
• The 14 countries, with median increase percentages broken down by four separate employee groups (executive/senior management, middle management/seasoned professional, supervisory/junior professional and clerical operations).

Editor’s Note: Additional Content

For more information and resources related to this article, see the pages below, which offer quick access to all WorldatWork content on these topics:

• Employee Compensation
• Finance and Budgeting
• Total Rewards