Most Workers Are Getting Raises This Year, Survey Reveals — Here's Why That Could Be a ProblemInflation continues to complicate the situation.

ByAmanda Breen•Feb 22, 2023

Many Americans feeling the weight ofinflationare ready for a much-neededraise.

And 80% of employers are willing to give it to them, according to a new Payscale survey reported byAxios.

Last year, 92% of employers expressed the intention to raise workers' base pay, and although that figure has dropped for 2023, it's still well above that of the pre-pandemic era, Amy Stewart, associate director of content and editorial at Payscale and author of the compensation report, said.

Payscale surveyed nearly 5,000 compensation professionals — 69% at companies headquartered in the U.S. — and found that 56% of them wouldoffer raisesgreater than 3%. Only 11% of respondents said they intended to give raises of more than 5% (inflation clocked in at 6.4% year over year in January).

Inflation hit a record highin June 2022, and wages haven't kept pace with still-bloated prices. As of November 2022, wage growth accounted for an inflation rate of roughly 4.5% while the inflation rate sat at 7.1%, perCNBC.

Butsalary increasesaren't without complications. They're also fueling inflation and could trap us in a wage-price spiral: when higher prices cause workers to demand higher wages, which increases costs and drives prices even higher,USA Todayreported.

Amanda Breen

Entrepreneur Staff

Features Writer

Amanda Breen is a features writer at Entrepreneur.com. She is a graduate of Barnard College and received an MFA in writing at Columbia University, where she was a news fellow for the School of the Arts.