The
economic downturn has held the lid on pay for HR jobs, much as it has for the
rest of the workforce, according to research.
A
new survey, conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting in conjunction with
the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), reveals that HR professionals
in the US received pay increases of on average less than 2 per cent over the
past year.
The
2002 Human Resource Management Compensation Survey – considered the leading
source of pay information for the HR profession – includes data provided by
nearly 1,100 US employers that collectively have more than 10.3m employees.
The
survey covered nearly 46,000 HR professionals in 109 HR jobs, ranging from top
management to clerical HR positions.
Among
12 of the most common jobs in HR, pay nudged up slightly for 11 of the 12 for
an average increase of 1.7 per cent. The largest change was for senior
compensation analyst and general recruiter, both of which saw a 4.2 per cent
pay increase over 2001 pay levels.
Susan
R Meisinger, SHRM president and CEO, said: “Like many professions, HR is feeling
the effects of the current economic reality, as evidenced by the small
increases in pay for various HR positions.
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“However
in recent years, compensation for HR professionals at all levels has been
increasing steadily as a result of the increasing complexity and strategic
nature of many HR roles today. We can expect to see continued increases in pay
as the economy recovers.”
