Catch-Up Raise Calculator
Calculate increases restoring benchmark purchasing power.
Catch-Up Raise Calculator: Scenario Inputs
Annual percentage rate or benchmark index change.
Inflation & Purchasing Power Analysis
Over 3 years at 3.5% inflation, a $75,000 salary requires $83,154 to retain equal purchasing power. Without matching raises, your real compensation experiences an effective reduction of $7,355 (-9.81%).
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How Catch-Up Raise Calculator Works?
The Catch-Up Raise Calculator works by combining the gap to the benchmark with expected inflation for the next period.
Enter current pay
Type current salary, the pay that trails the benchmark.
Enter the benchmark
Type the inflation-adjusted benchmark, or let the calculator build the benchmark from a past salary.
Add expected inflation
Type inflation expected until the next review, such as 3%.
Read the catch-up raise
The output shows the restore-only raise and the full catch-up raise in percent and dollars.
Catch-Up Raise Calculator Formula
The Catch-Up Raise formula multiplies the gap factor by the expected inflation factor and subtracts one.
Restore % = (Benchmark ÷ Current − 1) × 100
Catch-Up % = [(Benchmark ÷ Current) × (1 + πnext) − 1] × 100
Variables
- Benchmark
- Inflation-adjusted salary target today
- Current
- Current salary
- πnext
- Expected inflation until the next review
Worked example
Current pay of $66,000 against a $72,000 benchmark needs a 9.09% restore raise. Adding 3% expected inflation gives a full catch-up raise of 12.36%, a new salary of $74,160.
Catch-Up Raise Calculator Conversion Table
This table shows restore-only and full catch-up raises for 5 current salaries against a $72,000 benchmark, with 3% expected inflation.
| Current pay | Gap to benchmark | Restore-only raise | Full catch-up raise | New salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $62,000 | $10,000 | 16.13% | 19.61% | $74,160 |
| $64,000 | $8,000 | 12.50% | 15.87% | $74,160 |
| $66,000 | $6,000 | 9.09% | 12.36% | $74,160 |
| $68,000 | $4,000 | 5.88% | 9.06% | $74,160 |
| $70,000 | $2,000 | 2.86% | 5.94% | $74,160 |
What is Catch-Up Raise Calculator?
The Catch-Up Raise Calculator is a tool that calculates the single raise that restores pay to its inflation-adjusted benchmark and covers inflation expected before the next review. A catch-up raise closes past erosion and protects the coming year in one step.
A catch-up raise is larger than a normal cost-of-living raise. The catch-up raise covers the backlog of past years, not only the latest year.
What are the uses of Catch-Up Raise Calculator?
There are 4 main uses of the Catch-Up Raise Calculator.
Recover after a freeze
Set the raise that ends a multi-year pay freeze without leaving a gap.
Plan pay corrections
HR teams cost one-off corrections for staff who fell behind inflation.
Negotiate a reset
Ask for one raise that covers past and coming inflation.
Compare with staged raises
Contrast a single catch-up raise with spreading the correction over 2 or 3 years.
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