What Is The Typical Raise Percentage For A Downtown, Chicago Office Worker? (how much)

[Chicago87]

1.) What Is The Typical Raise Percentage For A Downtown, Chicago Office Worker?
2.) How much was your raise and what do you do?
3.) Was your raise a typical raise or did you get a promotion, new job, etc.?

[Maintainschaos]

Originally Posted by Chicago87

1.) What Is The Typical Raise Percentage For A Downtown, Chicago Office Worker?
2.) How much was your raise?
3.) Was your raise a typical raise or did you get a promotion, new job, etc.?

My partner works for a risk-consulting firm downtown. I don't know all of the answers, but he has received a raise typically >5% for his division, as well as some sort of corporate raise that is given on top of that based on company performance (2%, I think). His raises have been on the higher end of his colleagues; I think the average people get ~5% for their division and then the corporate raise in addition to that.

[emathias]

I've gotten all sorts of raises, everything from about a 15% raise when I took a new job, to a 10% raise plus a quintupling of my stock options (which ended up being worth the equivalent of 2 years' salary when they were cashed in) 3 months after I started a job because I could prove I was doing far more than they'd expected, to zero some years during lean pre-launch startup years. I've also had times when I got a 20% bonus instead of a 10% bonus target, but no raise, or gotten stock options instead of a raise.

Basically, it really depends a lot on the job, on how well the individual is doing, on the industry, on how well the company is doing, and on how well the economy in general is doing, and how senior the person is, and where in the pay scale relative to their peers the person is doing. I've gotten increases of 3% per year over the past 3 years, but I also am already in the 90th percentile of earnings for my title, so I can't really expect them to bump me up hugely. When I was younger, raises were higher because I was further from the top of the earnings structure. I suspect the average for office jobs that require degrees has been a little over 3% in the past decade, and a little under 3% for office jobs that don't require a degree. In volatile jobs like investment banking, they might get 20% raises one year and get fired the next if the company's performance really sucks. That volatility hides the averages.

[Chicago60614]

Totally depends on job and year. Mine was 6% last year.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

Totally depends on job and year. Mine was 6% last year.

Correct, this question is nearly impossible to answer.

[Vagabonda]

I need to get out of healthcare and into finance/marketing/whatever else is getting you all 6-15% yearly raises! Wow! Those are good numbers

[Chicago87]

Originally Posted by Vagabonda

I need to get out of healthcare and into finance/marketing/whatever else is getting you all 6-15% yearly raises! Wow! Those are good numbers

You have to keep in mind that people who received big raises are more likely to tell others about it than people that received a small raise or no raise. Even then you have to take everything with a huge grain of salt as people can easily lie.

Who can prove that I didn't receive a 50% raise?