Salary market data refers to the collection of compensation information from external sources to understand current pay trends across industries, job roles, and geographic regions. This data includes base salary, bonuses, benefits, and total rewards, and is used by organisations to build competitive and fair compensation structures.
Salary market data is essential for companies hiring globally, as it helps them navigate differences in labour costs, local salary expectations, and regulatory requirements across countries.
Salary market data is gathered from multiple sources and analysed to provide accurate insights into prevailing compensation standards. The process typically includes:
- Market surveys: large-scale datasets compiled by research organisations or consulting firms.
- Benchmarking tools: digital platforms that aggregate real-time global salary information.
- Job posting analytics: salary ranges extracted from online job adverts.
- HRIS & employer submissions: anonymised data provided by participating companies.
- Government & industry reports: publicly available labour statistics and compensation summaries.
- Sector-specific datasets: niche salary data for specialised industries such as tech, finance, and engineering.
These sources are combined and validated to give organisations reliable insights into how their pay compares with the external market.
- Competitive hiring: helps organisations attract talent by offering salaries aligned with market expectations.
- Retention improvement: prevents underpayment that leads to voluntary turnover.
- Fair compensation models: supports equal pay initiatives and transparent reward strategies.
- Better workforce planning: enables accurate budgeting for recruitment and salary adjustments.
- Global consistency: guides compensation decisions across different countries and regions.
- Reduced risk of overpayment: ensures compensation remains cost-effective and aligned with market realities.
While closely linked, the two concepts have distinct purposes:
- Salary market data: the raw information collected from external sources about prevailing compensation levels.
- Salary benchmarking: the process of comparing internal salaries to this market data to determine competitiveness.
Salary market data provides the foundation upon which salary benchmarking and compensation analysis are built.
At Mauve Group, we support organisations in accessing and interpreting global salary market data through our salary benchmarking services, HR consulting, and international payroll expertise.
By leveraging data across 150+ countries, we help employers understand market expectations, design competitive compensation packages, and ensure compliance with local labour laws – all essential components of a successful global workforce strategy.
- Salary data analysis: evaluating internal and external salary datasets to inform compensation planning.
- Salary benchmarking: comparing internal pay structures with external market data.
- Salary benchmarking tool: software used to collect and analyse global compensation information.
- Compensation analysis: assessing total rewards, pay structures, and benefits.
- Global payroll services: managing salary payments and compliance across international jurisdictions.
- Pay equity analysis: reviewing compensation fairness and compliance with equal pay regulations.