Canadian employers expect salaries to rise by an average of 2.6 percent in 2014, according to Morneau Shepell's annual compensation survey. The increase is similar to the increase expected for 2013 and also in line with increases actually granted in 2013. The 2.6 percent average includes expected salary freezes and excludes promotional or special salary adjustments.

Respondents in the mining and oil and gas extraction sector expect the greatest salary increases for 2014 at 3.5 percent on average, short of the 4.7 percent granted in 2013 in the same sector. The manufacturing sector expects to maintain salary increases in line with the overall average, although some traditional sub-sectors such as printing and paper or wood products are budgeting significantly lower salary increases.

Morneau Shepell provides human resources consulting and outsourcing services. The survey was conducted between mid-June and mid-August, 2013, with input from more than 300 organizations employing nearly 3 million people. The benchmark organizations are mostly from the manufacturing (28 percent), services (26 percent), and finance (12 percent) sectors.