Economy

Feature of the Week

As 2010 winds down, most companies are looking ahead to 2011 in order to adjust their business plans to the rapidly changing economic environment. This week’s Feature from CCH News offers one expert’s view of the 10 key challenges for CEOs in 2011.

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DLIR Has Furlough Day Calendar Until June 2010; Different Calendar for Other Agencies

Gov Lingle and HGEA Leadership

If you have regular interaction with the State Dept. Read more

Hawaii Pay Increases Lag Behind Mainland, More Jobs Not Getting Raises

Empyting Piggy Bank

HEC’s recently completed 2009 Salary Adjustment Survey shows that Hawaii employers are providing lower pay increases compared to the Mainland, and that there is a significant rise in the number of job groups who will see no pay raise in either 2009 or 2010 due to the economic downturn.

Ac Read more

More Employers Planning to Reverse Pay Cuts, Other Take Backs

The number of employers planning to reverse salary cuts and freezes and restore matching contributions to 401(k) plans has increased in the past two months, according to a recent Watson Wyatt survey update of 175 large employers. Read more

Honolulu CPI Summary for First Half 2009 Available for HEC Members

Shopper

The Consumer Price Indexes in Honolulu for the first half of 2009 is available here or under What’s New.

Honolulu has seen a negative increase of the CPI-W (Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers) of -0.1 percent in the first half of 2009 compared to th Read more

Companies Changing/Eliminating Benefits Have Already Done So, HEC Survey Finds

Piggybank

Popularly-provided benefits by Hawaii employers such as 401(k) company match, cell phones, educational assistance/training, employee parties, professional membership dues, and recognition/service awards have already been cut back by a significant percentage of companies offering them, a recent HEC survey shows. Read more

Pay Raises to Rebound in 2010, According to Watson Wyatt

Pay raises for U.S. workers are expected to rebound in 2010, following a year in which many companies slashed raises in the wake of the recession, says a newly completed Watson Wyatt survey.

Companies are projecting median merit increases of 3.0 percent for 2010, according to the Watson Wyatt 2009/2010 U.S. Read more

Slowing Wage Growth Tied by BLS to Shift in Occupations

Average real wages from 2002 to 2007 increased only 0.41 percent when adjusted for inflation, and the slow increase is tied to a shift in lower-paying occupations in the U.S., according to a new report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Many studies attribute slow wage growth to the increasing cost of employee benefits Read more

Fewer Expect Pay Raises, More Are Willing to Make Concessions to Keep Job

Fewer employees are expecting a pay raise or a cost-of-living increase in the next 12 months than was seen in the previous two quarters, according to a recent quarterly survey from The Glassdoor.com. Read more

Employers Enlisting Employee Involvement in Reducing Health Benefit Costs

Despite a challenging economic environment, U.S. Read more

Employees Clear on Job Responsibilities, Not So Much on Company Goals

Employees are actually clearer about their job responsibilities and have more confidence in their long-term career opportunities now than a year ago, but there is a drop in their understanding of company goals and long-term direction, according to a new survey series by Towers Perrin.

Towers Perrin’s Workplace Watch takes a quarterly look at employee opinions across a set of large global or Read more

Cost Cutting Slows, Watson Wyatt Says

Layoffs, hiring freezes and salary freezes may have finally peaked in U.S. companies, according to a Watson Wyatt update to its ongoing series of surveys.

Watson Wyatt says that most companies surveyed are planning no further hiring freezes (67 percent), organizational restructuring changes (65 percent) or layoffs (53 percent). Read more

HEC Finds Marked Increase in Hawaii Companies Reporting Lowered Pay Raises for 2009

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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 S Read more