Average raise 3.6 percent, survey finds

New York

A rebounding economy and improving job market aren’t translating into big pay raises for U.S. workers, who’ll get an average 3.6 percent increase this year. Some workers, though, might find something extra in their paychecks if their bosses are really pleased with their work.

Results of a survey released Tuesday by Mercer Human Resource Consulting show the size of the average raise this year is little changed from 2004, when pay hikes averaged 3.5 percent. But the increases are generally helping workers stay ahead of inflation, which has risen at an annual rate of 3.1 percent so far this year.

A separate survey issued last month by the Conference Board was in line with Mercer’s, finding that salaries are expected to rise an average 3.5 percent. But many individual workers are actually doing better because the use of one-time compensation such as bonuses has increased, said Steven Gross, a senior consultant at Mercer who specializes in looking at employee compensation.

The survey included nearly 1,350 employers across the country and reflects pay practices for nearly 13 million workers.

Cell phone sales to approach 800 million

New York Global sales of cell phones will reach nearly 800 million this year, and the annual tally will surpass 1 billion in 2009, though market growth will soon slow sharply, the research firm Gartner Inc. says in a new forecast.

The report Wednesday also estimated 2.6 billion mobile phones will be in use by the end of 2009.

Notwithstanding the overall strength suggested by the numbers, cell phone makers are not necessarily reaping huge profits as competition pressures them to cut prices.

Motorola Corp. posted strong results on Tuesday but LG Electronics Inc. reported that its second-quarter profit plunged 70 percent as its cell phone division registered a loss. On Friday, Sony Ericsson said its earnings dropped 16 percent in the second quarter despite growing sales.

Asia remains the fastest-growing region, accounting for one of every four phones sold, a pace that will increase to one of three by 2009, Gartner said.

Breach costs CardSystems big accounts

Boston Visa USA Inc. and American Express Co. are cutting ties with the payment-processing company that left 40 million credit and debit card accounts vulnerable to hackers in one of the biggest breaches of consumer data security.

CardSystems Solutions Inc. “has not corrected, and cannot at this point correct, the failure to provide proper data security for Visa accounts,” said Rosetta Jones, a spokeswoman for Foster City, Calif.-based Visa.

She said banks that issue Visa cards would have until Oct. 31 to replace CardSystems with one of the hundreds of other payment-processing companies in the United States.

American Express also notified CardSystems it would sever their relationship as of October, spokeswoman Judy Tenzer said. CardSystems was a small part of American Express’ network, handling less than 0.5 percent of its transactions, she said.