3-MONTH MOVING AVERAGE WAGE GROWTH
FOR U.S. LABOR FORCE | DATA AS OF FEBRUARY 2025
SOURCE: FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF ATLANTA
When it comes to securing a raise, for the first time since September 2010, employees who stayed in their jobs earned higher increases than those who switched. That’s according to a three-month moving average of data released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Wage Growth Tracker in February.
Conventional wisdom during the past 15 years has held that employees who switched jobs every few years earned the largest wage increases. But that trend reversed for the 12-month period ending in February 2025. Wage growth for workers who stayed in their job was 4.4% versus 4.2% for workers who switched jobs.
Strategic Insights
- In the fourth quarter of 2024, credit unions’ salary and benefits per employee averaged $102,855, up 6.2% from $96,872 one year ago.
- That growth outpaces the U.S. economy, but salaries were still significantly lower than the $136,690 paid by U.S. banks. The spread narrows slightly at the median, but the trend is clear: banking pays better.
- To make cooperative employment more attractive, credit unions strive to engage employees, create better working environments, and lean into work life balance.
- And when it comes to cold, hard cash, credit unions also are rethinking incentive structures and weighing the minimum wage against a living wage.
How Do You Compare? Dig into your own employee metrics — like compensation and benefits or average salary and benefits per employee — and compare your stats against peers of your choosing to identify strengths and opportunities. You can do that with Peer Suite, and Callahan can show you how. Request a free performance analysis session today. Request your free performance analysis session today.