Great Lakes Wire

The American Society of Employers (ASE), Michigan’s largest employer association, has released the findings of the 2024 ASE Compensation Survey. The survey, which covers 545 positions with responses from 411 Michigan companies, was presented at Compensation Insights events on June 4th in Troy and June 6th in Holland.

The survey indicates that a combination of historically low unemployment, inflationary trends, and sluggish labor participation has driven strong salary growth over the past year. Specifically, wage growth for a matched sample of companies was 4.3%, slightly down from last year's 4.4%.

Certain job families experienced higher-than-average wage growth rates. Notably, low-skill and low-wage jobs such as Material Handling (4.7%), Traffic & Fleet (5.1%), and Assembly/Production (5.5%) saw significant increases. Other job categories with notable wage growth include Administrative (5.0%), Human Resources (4.6%), and Sales/Marketing (4.5%).

“In the face of economic challenges such as low unemployment, inflation, and continued demand for workers, employers have maintained strong salary growth, with certain job families experiencing even higher wage increases," said Mary Corrado, President & CEO of ASE.

Key highlights from the survey include:

- Wage increases among Michigan businesses showed a year-over-year increase of 4.3% from 2023 to 2024.

- Over half of the employers (51.6%) conducted formal market reviews to ensure competitive wages.

- Approximately 32% of organizations adjusted their salary budgets for inflation, resulting in average increases of almost 3.5% in 2024.

- The projected total base pay increases for 2024 are expected to be 0.5% lower than the actual increases in 2023.

Employers are advised to proactively evaluate their wages and salaries as labor market participation improves slowly.

The survey included responses from companies predominantly located in Southeast Michigan (62.5%). Nearly 80% of participating organizations reported having between one and five hundred employees.

ASE is a non-profit membership organization with locations in Troy, Muskegon, and Grand Rapids, offering HR services that span recruitment, development, retention while minimizing compliance risk.

For more information about ASE or to purchase the full survey results, visit www.aseonline.org.

By Heather Nezich