Career Trends: Compensation and Benefits Managers

Compensation managers plan, develop, and oversee programs to determine how much an organization pays its employees and how employees are paid. Benefits managers plan, direct, and coordinate retirement plans, health insurance, and other benefits that an organization offers its employees.

Compensation and benefits managers work in nearly every industry. They typically work in offices. About 1 in 3 worked more than 40 hours per week in 2014.

Workers need a combination of education and related work experience to become a compensation and benefits manager. Most jobs require at least a bachelor’s degree.

Employment of compensation and benefits managers is projected to grow 6 percent from 2014 to 2024, about as fast as the average for all occupations. Competition for jobs will be very strong because compensation and benefits manager positions typically offer high pay.

This occupation supported 20,700 jobs in 2012 and 16,900 jobs in 2014, reflecting a decline of 18.4%. In 2012, this occupation was projected to increase by 3.4% in 2022 to 21,400 jobs. As of 2014, to keep pace with prediction, the expected number of jobs was 20,800, compared with an observed value of 16,900, 18.8% lower than expected. This indicates current employment trends are much worse than the 2012 trend within this occupation. In 2014, this occupation was projected to increase by 5.3% in 2024 to 18,000 jobs. Linear extrapolation of the 2012 projection for 2022 results in an expected number of 21,500 jobs for 2024, 19.4% higher than the 2014 projection for 2024. This indicates expectations for future employment trends are much worse than the 2012 trend within this occupation.