Salary Increases Hit New Lows

Business Week reports:

AIG’s new CEO may be taking home a $7 million salary, but average workers, and even average executives, got the lowest pay increase on record last year. Human resources consulting firm Hewitt Associates released its annual salary survey last week, and found that salary increases for 2009 were below 3%, on average, for the first time in the 33 years it has been keeping records.

Base salary raises for non-hourly paid professionals were just 1.8 percent, down from 3.7% last year. Hourly workers raises were 1.9 percent, while executives’ were just 1.4%. Nearly half of companies (48 percent, Hewitt reports) froze salaries last year.