Professionals within the food, healthcare and automotive industries are expecting an average salary increase of 2.4 percent this year.  

A survey commissioned by Expion Search and Selection found that nearly a third of candidates are expecting an increase of more than 3 percent while another third expected an increase between 0 and three percent.  Only 3.2 percent of candidates are expecting a salary decrease while 31.1 percent are expecting no change. While the 2.4 percent figure is higher than the latest 0.9 percent UK average earnings increase statistics published by the ONS in June, it is broadly in line with other wage research focussing on the UK manufacturing sector and gives employers a useful indicator of candidate expectation during this period of cautious recovery. The Expion survey analysed the wage expectations by the main skill of the candidate and showed that professionals working within Research & Development have the highest average wage increase expectation of 3.06 percent.Candidates working within Supply Chain and Engineering are expecting the lowest salary increase.Caroline Vooght, Business Unit Director for Expion said “The survey confirms the advice we’ve been giving to our clients that they need to be looking at salary increases of at least two percent to stay competitive in the market this year.  Research & Development professionals are recognising their worth in an increasingly skill-short market and companies need to ensure that they look after their key professional employees in this year’s salary review.”