Your chances for a raise are best in years, survey says

CHICAGO - Many workers might have reason to feel more optimistic about their chances of getting a raise than they have in years.

Nearly two in five small and midsized U.S. businesses, or 38 percent, said they plan to increase salaries in the next six months - the highest level in six years - PNC Financial Services found in a survey.

'I would expect business owners to be even more upbeat about pay raises in our upcoming spring survey, given that the economic backdrop has improved even further since our fall survey,” said Mekael Teshome, PNC Financial Group economist.

Jay Goltz, founder and chief executive of Chicago-based Goltz Group, whose five businesses include Artists Frame Service, Chicago Art Source and Jayson Home, called the Great Recession 'a game changer.”

Goltz said that he didn't lay off anyone during the slowdown, but he did furlough workers and stopped giving raises. Slowly, he said, the furloughs ended and raises were given again.

The PNC Bank survey also found that 36 percent of small and midsized businesses surveyed were hurt by the extremely cold weather in early 2014.

President Barack Obama referred to rising wages in his State of the Union speech Tuesday.

'We know that more small-business owners plan to raise their employees' pay than at any time since 2007,” the president said.

But costs are rising, too, according to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

For much of the recovery since the Great Recession, wages generally have stayed even with the prices of goods and services. As a result, many workers haven't received inflation-adjusted increases in salaries for years.

On Wednesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said median weekly earnings of the nation's 107.4 million full-time wage and salary workers were $799 in the fourth quarter of 2014. That's 1.7 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with a gain of 1.2 percent in the Consumer Price Index.

The Consumer Price Index is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a basket of goods and services.

The National Federation of Independent Business survey said its Small Business Optimism Index rose in December to its highest level since October 2006.

It found that a seasonally adjusted net 17 percent of businesses planned to raise compensation in the coming months, up 2 percentage points.