Professionals hoping for a significant boost to their salary may want to look at moving to Asia next year, as wages are set to increase three times as much as they would do in Western countries.
According to new research from the Hay Group, pay will rise considerably more in high growth Asian economies, compared to wage increases their colleagues might experience in more developed countries in the region.
The global management consulting firm, which specialises in working with leaders to “transform strategy into reality”, said that Asia might expect to receive an influx of international movers who are keen to benefit from better salaries, improved working conditions and a better quality of life.
Steve Paola, senior consultant at the Hay Group, said that given the geographical proximity of Australia to Asia and the fact that wages are only going to go up modestly in 2013, its residents are going to be tempted about heading abroad for work.
“With strong economic growth in Asia translating into need for talent and rocketing wage hikes, local organisations may struggle to keep their most talented employees in the country,” he expanded.
“As a result, Australian businesses need to ensure they have reward strategies in place that deliver strong incentives for their current and future employees enabling them to retain high performing staff despite modest pay increase forecasts.”
Other revelations from the study included the fact that across North America, pay will only rise by 2.9 per cent, the lowest of any global region, while across Europe, a much more subdued environment will result in a paltry 3.3 per cent increase. In 2012, the average pay rise was 5.5 per cent.
This research is reflective of what most international organisations say about the different fortunes that are effectively going to be experienced by Western and Asia nations in 2013, which can also be further divided amongst highly industrialised countries and emerging economies.
Such was the findings of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) last month. It stated that it expects growth to be around 1.4 per cent, which was a revision on May’s more optimistic figure of 2.2 per cent.
“Over the recent past, signs of emergence from the crisis have more than once given way to a renewed slowdown or even a double-dip recession in some countries,” commented Pier Carlo Padoan, chief economist at the OECD, at the time. “The risk of a major contraction cannot be ruled out.”