National (US) Pay Trends
Updated April 5, 2012
The PayScale Index follows the change in wages of employed U.S. workers, revealing trends in compensation for jobs over time. It specifically measures the quarterly change in the total cash compensation of full-time private industry employees nationally, with additional detail on the 20 largest metropolitan areas, 15 industries, 19 job categories and three company sizes.
2012: Can we say, “So long, recession?” In Q1 2012, U.S. wage levels finally rose above their previous Q4 2008 high point. This significant achievement was made possible by continued, steady, upward growth throughout 2011. In Q1 2012, U.S. earnings grew about 0.5 percent quarter-over-quarter and roughly 1.5 percent year-over-year.
2007-2011: During 2007 and 2008 national wages grew at a healthy rate, increasing more than 5 percent from their Index starting point in 2006. As the recession worsened, at the end of 2008, wages dropped dramatically, settling on a new, lower plateau in Q2 2009 and remaining flat through 2010.
The economy began to warm up, finally, in 2011. National wage levels finished the year with the best year-over-year gains since early 2009, up about 1 percent.
