There is a substantial increase in the number of Hawaii companies reporting that they are changing their budgeted pay projections for 2009, according to HEC’s continuing survey follow- up of salary adjustment information first reported in our 2008 Salary Adjustment Survey.

The 2008 Salary Adjustment Survey was conducted at the end of summer, and companies had initially reported an average projected salary increase in 2009 of 3.2 percent. HEC conducted a follow-up survey from late October to early November to evaluate whether participating companies had changed their plans due to the recent economic downturn, and at that time 35 percent said that they were changing their planned 2009 increases. The latest follow-up survey, conducted in mid-February 2009, shows that about 59 percent of companies are now planning to change their wage budgets this year.

The average wage increase now projected for 2009 is 1.4 percent, with the indication that 42 percent of non-union job categories either will not be receiving a pay increase or will be experiencing a pay reduction this year.

This is the last planned follow-up to the 2008 Salary Adjustment Survey; the 2009 survey will be conducted this summer.