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Published Salary Surveys
A traditional source of salary data comes from published surveys. Salary survey companies and consulting organizations conduct annual industry-specific, functional, and general surveys, on a global, national, regional, state, or local basis. Participant data is typically collected online.
If you're looking for specific survey data by industry, occupation or location, purchasing a published survey may be your best choice. In addition to salary survey companies, a large number of trade associations, industry groups, professional societies, and consulting organizations conduct compensation surveys. Some surveys are free to members of associations. Some are available for purchase only by participants. And some may cost as much as several thousand dollars.
ERI publishes compensation and benefits survey reports for the United States and Canada. Numerous industry-specific and job function surveys are published annually with data from for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Participating organizations include national, regional, and local companies that vary in size from very small to extremely large in terms of revenue. The Salary Increase Survey & Forecast provides future and past salary increase rates for your location and has a summary for the rest of the world. Salary increases are broken down by level (general employee, professional, management) and industry.
WorldatWork also publishes an annual Salary Budget Survey. It provides in-depth salary increase projections for the United States and Canada and summarizes projections for the rest of the world. The Survey is free to participants and can be purchased for non-participants.
WorldatWork, SHRM, and other companies maintain listings of salary surveys available in the marketplace. ERI Economic Research Institute, Mercer, Korn Ferry, Willis Towers Watson, Aon, and Culpepper are all well-known and reputable survey providers.
Many of these market sources include global data. The Birches Group is unique as it specializes in developing country market data.