(Montreal) Salaries are expected to grow by 3.7% in 2024 in Quebec, according to forecasts from employers, all sectors combined.
The workers in the sectors who should benefit the most from the increase are those in professional and scientific services, indicated the Order of approved human resources advisors, which presented this assessment on Thursday at a press conference and discussions with human resources experts.
The agriculture and forestry sectors are expected to follow, as are manufacturing and transportation, which are expected to see increases approaching or exceeding 4%.
Employers plan few salary freezes for their employees.
“The sector of activity that stands out is the professional and scientific services sector. And the sector where there is the lowest expected increase is public administration,” summarized Manon Poirier, general director of the Order of Chartered Human Resources Advisors.
According to these human resources experts, employers in all sectors, including small and medium-sized businesses, must take into account the high expectations of workers, generated by inflation and the relative scarcity of labor.
However, the number of vacant positions is indeed decreasing and the employer-employee imbalance, favorable to employees, is diminishing, the experts argued during the discussions. They report a lot of worker displacement over the last 18 to 24 months, but this phenomenon is easing.
As for employers who believe that they will not have the means to grant such salary increases, human resources experts point out that there are other ways to retain employees, such as offering teleworking, bonuses and leave.
The Order notices another phenomenon: the increases for union members could be lower than those for non-union members for the next year, for example.
Ms. Poirier explains this phenomenon by the fact that collective agreements are generally negotiated for three or five years. However, the agreements signed three years ago, for example, did not yet take into account the demands of workers linked to inflation and the higher salary increases that have been granted in other sectors.