2025 salary increases

Of those changing their initial projections, 65% are reducing their initial budgets with cost reduction efforts as the main motivator. As well, on a year-over-year basis, the survey reveals continued gradual decline in average salary increase budgets following a series of sharp increases realized from 2021 to 2023.

As for what else the money can be used for, 42% of organizations that participated in the survey also plan to set aside an average additional budget of 0.9% in 2025.

"By reserving these resources, organizations are positioning themselves to better address potential challenges during the next compensation cycle," explained Clark.

"This strategy provides them with an opportunity to tackle internal inequalities more thoroughly with ad hoc salary adjustments. Additionally, setting aside a portion of their budget can help support salary increase differentiation for high performers and address retention efforts for highly strategic or business-critical roles."

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Breakdown by industry

According to Normandin Beaudry’s survey, industries with the most substantial decreases are in the electronic gaming and visual effects, transportation and warehousing and telecommunications and data processing/warehousing industries. The company attributes the more conservative increase budget forecast from the survey to substantial increases to compensation programs implemented over the last several cycles, cost reduction efforts and decreased pressure for talent in the market.

To contrast, the initial salary increase budgets are increasing in finance and insurance, public services and pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Increases are likely linked to the competitive nature of the market.

Average total salary increase budget forecasts by ownership structure include:

  • Not-for-profit organizations: 4.1%
  • Privately held organizations (not listed on a stock market): 3.9%
  • Publicly traded organizations (listed on a stock market): 3.4%
  • Government organizations/Crown corporations: 3.6%
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Nicholas completed his master's in journalism and communications at Western University. Since then, he's worked as a reporter at the Financial Post, Healthing.ca, Sustainable Biz Canada and more. Aside from reporting, he also has experience in web production, social media management, photography and video production. His work can also be found in the Toronto Star, Yahoo Finance Canada, Electric Autonomy Canada and Exclaim among others.

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