Hard times | HR salaries DROP despite soaring living costs

Despite a cost-of-living squeeze which has seen more pressure on household finances than at any other time in the last 30 years, new data shows that salaries within the HR sector have actually dropped. According to research by employment agency Reed, advertised salaries for HR roles fell by 2.4% in 2021.

The research looked at data from all regions across the UK and found that most regions experienced a decline in the amount of money being paid for jobs within the people function. However, some did buck the trend; the North West, for example, experienced a 5% growth in salaries for HR roles, and in Scotland and Northern Ireland, HR professionals saw their salaries rise by 3.8% and 3.6% respectively.

The biggest drop in wages occurred in the South West, where they fell by 9.2%, followed by the North East at 6.2%.

What’s surprising about this is that there’s been a lot of talk about wage inflation recently as employers compete for a shrinking pool of talent. In some ‘hero’ sectors, such as tech or healthcare, people have seen their salaries hiked by as much as 20%, according to the Robert Walters’ 2022 UK Salary Guide.