U.S. workers who got fed up with jobs stateside and left for Canada made a smart move, at least in terms of salary.

In the eight years since the last recession kicked in, Canadian salaries have increased more than 7 percent, while the average U.S. salary has dropped by more that 3 percent.

So says a study by a Korn Ferry unit of global salary trends over the period of 2008 to 20016. The United States. has performed poorly by most measures when compared to salary trends in other “developed” nations, the study said, finishing dead last among those countries so designated. (Argentina, where salaries have plummeted almost 19 percent during that time, may be surprised to learn it isn’t a developed nation.)

Of the so-called developed nations, Canada led the way in salary increase; its overall rate was boosted by a nearly 9 percent hike for professional workers during that period. Senior managers enjoyed an average uptick of nearly 8 percent. The big drop among U.S. worker salaries came at the low end, as “entry level/clerical” salaries plunged 15 percent. Senior managers didn’t do very well either, reporting a paltry 3.5 percent increase.

Japan and the United Kingdom also reported declines (-2 percent and -0.1 percent respectively), while Australian salaries were up an average of 6 percent, French pay rose more than 5 percent, German employees reported exactly 5 percent and Italian salaries were up over 2 percent.

Among all the nations in the study, salaries were up the most for Chinese (11 percent), Indonesian (9 percent) and Mexican (9 percent) workers, and down considerably for Turkey (-34 percent), Argentina, the Russian Federation (-17 percent), Brazil (-15 percent) and Saudi Arabia (-13 percent).

When the U.S. economy was viewed through the lens of gross national product, the low salary ranking was more baffling. U.S. GNP grew by more than 10 percent during the period, outpacing that of the United Kingdom. (8 percent), Germany (6 percent), France (4 percent), Japan (2 percent) and Italy (-7 percent).

Who did better in GNP? Australia, at 19 percent, led the way, followed by Canadians, at more than 11 percent.

China had far and away the strongest GNP uptick, at 76 percent, followed by India (64 percent) and Indonesia (46 percent). Saudi Arabia and Turkey reflected the U.S. experience: Both had high GNP growth (30 percent and 29 percent respectively) but lousy salary performance. Korn Ferry noted that the results underscore the roles played in different nations by politics, local economic policies and practices, and cultural features.

Instant Insights /

U.S. finishes last among major players in overall salary growth

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