HR Salaries Ahead of the Averages
By Bridget Quigg, PayScale.com
PayScale released its Q3 2011 results for The PayScale Index and added some helpful new features, like easy-to-read charts, category rankings pages and job family trends. Which addition do we here at Compensation Today love the most? The one that is all about our readers, the new human resources job category page. We can now tell you how compensation for hard-working HR pros has changed since 2006 and get a sense for where it is going next. Hint: It’s trending up.
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Human Resources Pay Trends
HR professionals’ earnings shared a bumpy ride throughout the recession, like many full-time, private-industry workers’. They tracked the national average wage trends, more or less, from 2007 through 2010. This means that after a steady rise in 2007 and 2008, HR wages dropped in early 2009 and then were mostly flat through the rest of 2009 and 2010. Not great news.
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But, finally, in 2011, things perked back up a bit. HR earnings began a slow, steady upward trend in Q1 of 2011, grew again in Q2 and then outpaced national averages with a strong Q3, up 0.7 percent from the previous quarter, above average for all job categories in Q3. Whether this was a one-quarter anomaly, or the start of a longer, positive trend, remains to be seen.
“One thing about human resources professionals is that they know what everyone gets paid so it’s no surprise that human resources pay has tracked closely to national trends. I think that other workers may have demanded unreasonable increases or have fallen behind trends, but HR people knew more about the resources available and what companies needed to do to survive, and they respected that,” posits Al Lee, PayScale director of quantitative analysis and the lead researcher on The PayScale Index.
“The good news is that human resources pay does finally seem to be heading back up again in the last couple of quarters, perhaps it will stay ahead of national trends, but it’s too early to say,” Lee adds.
Are We Talking About Raises?
Keep in mind that The PayScale Index tells you wage trends, but these trends are not based on raises. To ensure an apples-to-apples comparison, the Index looks at pay for the same job, requiring the same skills and years of experience, one year compared to the next. The data isn’t so much about raises for specific people over time but is more about overall economic health and what employers are paying for the same skills one year versus the next. Learn more about The Payscale Index calculations by reading the methodology.
Human Resources Pay Trends and Comparison
It’s time to have a little fun with all of the many charts and piles of data PayScale creates. We’ll start off with the most basic information then see how 12-month changes in earnings have looked for other job categories compared to human resources.
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Human Resources Jobs Year-Over-Year Percentage Change in Pay
– Year-over-year pay is only just startng to grow.
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Compensation Data Provided by PayScale, Inc.
| The PayScale Index uses 2006 average total cash compensation as a baseline. |
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Human Resources vs. National (US) Year-Over-Year Percentage Change in Pay
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– For as difficult as the recession has been for so many workers, few were hit as hard as construction. Construction wages are still dropping.
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Compensation Data Provided by PayScale, Inc.
– IT wages dropped faster during the hardest times but then came back sooner.
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Related Posts:
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- 10 Reasons to Love Your HR Staff
- Pay Incentive Programs
- Facebook at Work
- Trends for Wages: PayScale’s 2010 Results
- Tips for Personnel Recruiters – Recent Grads
- Simple HR Mistakes
- The Basics of Executive Compensation
- Helping CEOs with Compensation Planning
Do you have a topic you would like Compensation Today to cover? Write us at comptoday@payscale.com.
More Resources from PayScale:
- Get a free PayScale compensation report and see salary ranges for the position of your choice
- Attend one of our free compensation webinars.
- Download our free whitepaper, 5 Easy Steps to a Smart Compensation Plan.
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