The salary increments staff in 14 APAC countries can expect in 2017

According to research on nominal wage growth by Mercer, a majority of the Asia Pacific’s emerging economies are forecasting higher salary increase percentages for 2017 than 2016, with projected rises particularly bullish in India (10.8%) and Vietnam (9.2%).

Financial hubs Hong Kong and Singapore are forecast to see a 4.2% and 4.1% increase, respectively. Japan is forecasted to receive the lowest increase of 2.2%, followed by New Zealand (2.8%) and Australia (2.9%).

Notably though, real wage growth (salary increase minus inflation rate) has also been steadily rising in the region, given that inflation is at its lowest for most countries. The strongest push in forecasts is likely to come from the life science and chemical sectors.

 

Employee attrition across Asia Pacific

The research revealed doubt-digit employee turnover rates in almost all Asia Pacific countries, with the exception of Japan and New Zealand. Voluntary turnover rates have continued to increase year-on-year.

The rising numbers represent a challenge in terms of replacement costs in the form of higher salaries for new joiners, recruitment costs and lost production, all of which adversely impacts overall cost of operations and margins that are already under close scrutiny.

Close to half (48%) of companies in Asia report having difficulty filling-in vacant positions, as compared with 38% of the companies globally struggling to find the right talent to fuel their business expansion.

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