--- title: Despite Economic Jitters, Employers Plan to Dole Out 3.5% Raises Next Year description: Companies say they plan to increase worker salaries by an average of 3.4% next year despite economic jitters. authors: - name: Adam Hardy role: Lead Data Reporter url: https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/ bio: Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. Adam’s work has also appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, Nasdaq, The Penny Hoarder, Yahoo! Finance and more than a dozen local and regional newspapers. education: University of South Florida, BA, Magazine Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 501 covers: - Career Advice - Banking - Business - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - The Penny Hoarder - Forbes Advisor - Creative Loafing - The New York Times - The Washington Post - Bloomberg - Harvard Law School - The Federal Register - National Consumer Law Center - CBS News - Becker's Hospital Review - Business Insider - Mother Jones - The Week - Fortune - The Philadelphia Inquirer - National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NAFSAA) - Education Advisory Board (EAB) - The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) - This Morning with Gordon Deal - Empower - Reddit social: - https://www.x.com/hardyjournalism - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardyjournalism/ editors: - name: Julia Glum role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/julia-glum/ bio: Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. She also writes Dollar Scholar, a weekly newsletter that teaches young adults how to navigate the messy world of money. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2018 articles: 453 covers: - Career Advice - Banking - Business - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - Newsweek - International Business Times - CBS News - Good Morning America - WUSA9 - Pix 11 - The New York Times - Mashable - The Washington Post - CNBC - Politico social: - https://x.com/superjulia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-glum published: '2025-09-08T12:16:28.000Z' section: Career Advice tags: - News word_count: 699 canonical: https://money.com/2026-raises-salary-budgets/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Young man working at an office](https://img.money.com/2025/09/News-How-Much-Raise-2026.jpg) The labor market may be cooling, but employers are still planning on giving out above-average raises next year. Businesses say they’re increasing their salary budgets by about 3.5% in 2026, according to several recent reports. That’s a slight uptick from the pre-pandemic norm of 3%. “With turnover slowing, companies are getting more strategic about where their salary dollars go,” Diana Scott, an executive at business think tank The Conference Board, said in a [news release](https://www.conference-board.org/press/pay-raise-budgets) Wednesday. “Rather than spreading increases across the board, they’re channeling budgets into roles and skills that really move the needle.” For the 40th installment of its [salary budget report](https://www.conference-board.org/publications/US-salary-increase-budgets-2025-2026), released Tuesday, the group surveyed 450 employers. On average, companies told The Conference Board, or TCB, that they plan to increase their salaries by an average of 3.4% next year. Other recent surveys buttress that figure. A [July report](https://www.wtwco.com/en-us/news/2025/07/most-us-employers-not-budging-on-budgets-salary-increases-remain-flat) from the consulting firm Willis Towers Watson — which surveyed over 1,600 U.S. employers — found that companies are planning for a 3.5% increase to salaries next year. And Payscale’s most recent [findings](https://www.payscale.com/press-releases/2025-salary-budget-survey) also indicate that employers expect to increase pay by 3.5%. Those estimates are subject to change. But historically, proposed budgets tend to more or less mirror actual raises in TCB's surveys. For example, the proposed budget increase for salaries in 2025 was 3.9%, while actual raises were 3.5%. Much can happen before 2026, though, and companies are already feeling uneasy about the economy. Some 61% of employers reported in TCB’s survey that [economic uncertainty](https://money.com/trump-tariffs-supreme-court/) is giving them pause when it comes to their workforce plans. ## Who’s getting the biggest raises next year? A 3.5% raise next year is no guarantee. That is simply the average growth rate of the budget that companies say they have earmarked for employee pay. That bucket is often broken down further into categories such as merit-based raises, promotions, cost-of-living adjustments and other pay incentives. Individual raises depend on many different factors, such as industry, company culture and performance review standards. According to TCB survey results, the industries with the largest raises planned for next year are leisure and hospitality (3.73%); finance (3.61%); and health care (3.56%). On the other hand, workers in local government, nonprofits, transportation and education can expect to have some of the lowest raises on average. ## Why businesses are feeling so uneasy U.S. trade policy, spearheaded by President Donald Trump, is [throwing businesses for a loop](https://money.com/how-tariffs-affecting-small-businesses/). The president’s economic plan is rooted in his hopes of raising revenue by imposing broad tariffs on America’s trade partners. But the details change by the day. The U.S. is currently imposing a 10% baseline tariff on all goods coming into the country. Then there are additional tariffs on specific imports like automobiles and steel. As a negotiating tactic, the president has also announced a bevy of country-specific tariffs of up to 50% on top of that. Complicating matters further is the fact that, in August, a federal appeals court [ruled](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cafc.23105/gov.uscourts.cafc.23105.159.0_1.pdf) that Trump does not have the authority to impose most of his tariffs. The [legal battle is likely headed to the U.S. Supreme Court](https://money.com/trump-tariffs-supreme-court/). In the meantime, the trade duties are still in place. This all amounts to a trade roller coaster that businesses can’t get off. "Even if these tariffs are struck down, the uncertainty for businesses isn’t going away given the overwhelming likelihood that \[the\] administration will rely on other authorities to impose duties,” Jake Colvin, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, [recently told Money](https://money.com/trump-tariffs-supreme-court/). According to the financial firm Principal, tariffs and policy uncertainty are [weighing heavily on businesses](https://www.principal.com/about-us/global-insights/well-being-index-insights). “Today, business owners are striking a fragile balance — they’ve absorbed what they can and are now feeling the full weight of new tariffs,” Amy Freidrich, president of benefits and protection at Principal, said in a [statement](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250903632460/en/Tariffs-and-Policy-Uncertainty-Dampen-12-month-Economic-Outlook-for-U.S.-Businesses) Wednesday. “An unpredictable economic landscape continues to impede their planning.” And when companies can’t accurately project their operating expenses, it makes it much harder to plan their salary budgets. ## Reduce payments and make debt manageable with a Debt Relief program ![VISIT SITE](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/25289/medium_2e7b27ce-b30d-40a3-beef-0139ecba6b47.png) Our Partner [VISIT SITE](https://money.com/go/af04aff8c269?bidid=4111876285&pmeta=p129-c628-u31158&ptid=670509551&ptoken=070e25611e76ae2d99902c2735ab4a7d) ![VISIT SITE](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/23879/medium_3847e650-29eb-411b-9b8c-05deb0d02cbc.png) Our Partner [VISIT SITE](https://money.com/go/f12a13954304?bidid=4111876286&pmeta=p129-c628-u31158&ptid=670509551&ptoken=2bf4da4fde8a5e9d54f0d27633c832bd) ![VISIT SITE](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/15565/medium_832cc4b7-74f8-4735-8fe1-6917816cbe8d.png) Our Partner [VISIT SITE](https://money.com/go/64c30f158321?bidid=4111876283&pmeta=p129-c628-u31158&ptid=670509551&ptoken=1c6c114d15c6769d724268d1dd9f67bf) ![VISIT SITE](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/22445/medium_ba73f26a-1e1e-4e49-9739-df1298783de6.png) Our Partner [VISIT SITE](https://money.com/go/791c05878bb7?bidid=4111876292&pmeta=p129-c628-u31158&ptid=670509551&ptoken=88f07fbe78b25653437e7b5598d050d3) ![VISIT SITE](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/9246/medium_94931930-28cf-46b5-b09d-683979caec81.png) Our Partner [VISIT SITE](https://money.com/go/464897842465?bidid=4111876288&pmeta=p129-c628-u31158&ptid=670509551&ptoken=605aef41caa22064f99423c67d16d94a) ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/23879/medium_3847e650-29eb-411b-9b8c-05deb0d02cbc.png) If you owe over $20,000 or more, Accredited Debt Relief can help you get back on your feet! [Get Started](https://money.com/pr/q07b2d99abed?ap_referrer=%2F2026-raises-salary-budgets%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/2026-raises-salary-budgets/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Career Advice", "item": "https://money.com/career-advice/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Salaries and Wages", "item": "https://money.com/salaries-and-wages/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Despite Economic Jitters, Employers Plan to Dole Out 3.5% Raises Next Year" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/2026-raises-salary-budgets/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/2026-raises-salary-budgets/", "name": "Despite Economic Jitters, Employers Plan to Dole Out 3.5% Raises Next Year", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2025-09-08T12:16:28.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/2026-raises-salary-budgets/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/2026-raises-salary-budgets/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Despite Economic Jitters, Employers Plan to Dole Out 3.5% Raises Next Year", "articleSection": "Career Advice", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2025/09/News-How-Much-Raise-2026.jpg", "width": 3181, "height": 2122, "caption": "News-How-Much-Raise-2026" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adam Hardy", "url": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/#author", "description": "Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. 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