Plus: Unemployment Remains Stagnant, RFID Sales Surge and NAFTA Trade with Canada and Mexico Jumps.

Most Employers Expect to Give Pay Raises in 2011
Although keeping costs low remains a priority among employers, worker compensation is likely to be an increasing concern as the economy stabilizes and businesses focus on retaining their best talent. According to Mercer’s 2010/2011 U.S. Compensation Planning Survey, organizations plan to adjust their compensation practices for next year in response to concern over losing top talent after the past year of pay freezes and, for some, signs of economic recovery.

Based on responses from more than 1,100 mid-size and large employers across the United States, the global consultancy’s most recent survey on compensation trends found that more than 98 percent of companies plan to award base pay increases in 2011. Only 2 percent of companies are planning across-the-board salary freezes next year, down from 13 percent in 2010 and 31 percent in 2009.

Of the employers projecting to grant base pay increases, the average increase is expected to be 2.9 percent in 2011, up from an actual 2.7 percent in 2010, but still down from 2009 levels (3.2 percent average). Unlike past years, salary increase levels for 2011 will be even across most employee groups, although more employers are taking a segmented approach to salary increase allocations and continuing to focus on high-performing talent.

“It looks like salary raises are back and for good reason,” Catherine Hartmann, a principal with Mercer’s rewards consulting business, said in an announcement of the findings last week. “The risk of losing key employees is top of mind as the economy recovers and certain labor markets improve.

“And while non-monetary awards such as career development and training are effective in retaining employees, employers realize that top-performing employees are loathe to going another year without an increase in pay,” Hartmann continued. “Investments in both cash and non-cash solutions will have a significant impact on avoiding post-recessionary flight.”

Unemployment Remains at 9.5 Percent
The U.S. economy shed 131,000 jobs in July, as lackluster hiring and losses from discontinued government jobs further destabilized a still-struggling employment market, the U.S. Department of Labor reported on Friday.

Federal government employment saw the steepest decline in July, losing 143,000 jobs as the Census wound down. Although private employers added 71,000 jobs last month, these new positions were not sufficient to keep up with population growth, let alone make a dent in the roughly 8 million jobs lost through the recession. The nation’s unemployment rate remained at 9.5 percent in July.

“Just to keep pace with the growth in population, the economy has to add at least 100,000 net jobs each month. Some experts say the figure needs to be closer to 125,000,” the Associated Press explains. “But to significantly reduce the nation’s 9.5 percent unemployment rate, the monthly gains in private-sector jobs would need to equal at least 200,000 consistently.”

New initial jobless claims also increased for the week ending July 31, rising by 19,000 from the previous week’s total to reach 479,000, according to a separate report from the Department of Labor. This marked the highest weekly jobless reading since April.

“High unemployment is holding back the U.S. economy’s recovery from its deep recession. Americans aren’t buying like they once did,” the Wall Street Journal explains. “The saving rate rose in June and consumer spending was flat, government figures this week showed.”

On the positive side, “[m]anufacturing, which has been a relative bright spot in hiring the last few months, added 36,000 jobs in July,” the New York Times reports. “Automakers helped by keeping plants open that usually close during the month.”

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RFID Market to Expand in 2010
Based on current sales rates, the radio frequency identification (RFID) market is projected to grow by approximately $600 million this year, rising from $5.03 billion in 2009 to $5.63 billion in 2010, according to a recent report from tech consulting firm IDTechEx.

Expanding RFID applications in the retail market are driving a significant portion of the growth, with apparel tagging alone requiring 300 million RFID labels in 2010. Transit tickets are expected to account for 380 million tags this year, while animal tagging is forecast to require 178 million tags. In total, IDTechEx estimates that 2.31 billion tags will be sold this year, up from 1.98 billion in 2009.

“Most of the growth in this period is due to an increase in use of passive UHF [ultra high frequency] tags. For passive UHF tags, the biggest category of use is asset tracking in many closed loop systems,” Logistics Today reports. “Such applications typically use tens of thousands of tags and more; and, rarely, a million tags or more.”

RFID production and sales are likely to continue expanding as international demand rises. According to IDTechEx, 43 percent of RFID tags are expected to be sold in North America this year, but the rapidly growing need for RFID technologies in China is forecast to take a larger share of overall sales. China currently has the largest RFID order by value, with the government purchasing over 1 billion national I.D. cards for its citizens valued at $6 billion.

NAFTA Trade with Canada and Mexico Jumps in June
Trade using surface transportation between the U.S. and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico was 39.5 percent higher in May 2010 than in May 2009, reaching $66.8 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). The increase, reported in late July, reflected the largest percentage year-over-year increase in total U.S.-NAFTA trade by surface modes since data was first recorded in April 1994.

Surface transportation consists largely of freight movements by truck, rail and pipeline. In May, 86.2 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moved on land.

In May, U.S.-Canada surface transportation trade totaled $40.2 billion, up 37.5 percent from May 2009. U.S.-Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $26.6 billion in May 2010, up 42.7 percent from the same period last year.

Despite the year-over-year increase, the value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico in May 2010 remained 9.9 percent below the May 2008 level, according to the BTS.