How About a Raise?

A growing number of American workers, but fewer women than men, plan to ask for salary increases this year.

Image: kentoh / Shutterstock

Amid a growing sense of optimism about job availability, a growing number of Americans (and especially the guys among them) are planning to ask for and get salary increases this year, according to a new Adecco Insights Survey.

One potential reason for that march from cubicle to corner office: A majority of those participating in the phone survey—60 percent—believe there will be more jobs available in 2012 than there were last year.

Nearly a quarter (24 percent) of American workers plan to ask for a raise, bonus, or promotion, compared with a fifth (20 percent) who planned to do so last year. One caveat: Only 13 percent actually did ask for that raise in 2011.

But while only a quarter of U.S. workers or executives plan to ask for more money this year, many others are anticipating that they will get one anyway. Two out of five (41 percent) Americans plan on getting a raise, bonus, or promotion in 2012.

The survey also provides more proof of what top female executives like Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg have been saying about women not doing enough to keep up with their male peers.

More than half of all men (52 percent) expect to ask for or receive a raise, bonus, or promotion at work in 2012, compared with just 37 percent of women, the survey found.