Posted on: Monday, October 27, 2003

Salary outlook good when switching jobs

Associated Press

In the long debate over whether the economy really is improving, here's another statistic to toss into the mix: the number of people who are matching their old salaries when they land a new job.

Most are, according to a quarterly survey of discharged executives and managers.

The latest data from the third quarter show 84.4 percent had at least equaled their former salaries, the highest since 91 percent in the second quarter of 2001, according to Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

When the economy was red-hot, from 1995 to 2000, the annual average was 90.2 percent, the firm said. But when business turned sour, so did new salaries, and the figure fell to 79.5 percent for the seven quarters ending June 30.