More than 30% of companies in the US do not pay Tet bonuses.

Fox News reported that according to a survey by the employment agency Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the rate of American companies that do not distribute year-end bonuses is up to more than 1/3.

The overall share of US companies that don't pay year-end bonuses is up 7% from last year to 34% in 2023, according to a survey by the employment agency. The online survey involved more than 200 US companies.

Companies are not paying bonuses to save money in an economy that is expected to weaken in 2024, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. 20% of companies are running cost-saving initiatives.

For employees at companies that offer year-end bonuses, many will find their bonuses remaining the same year after year. More than three-quarters of companies that offer bonuses have decided to keep the amount the same, while only one-quarter will change their year-end bonuses.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas said that this year, bonuses were given in "non-monetary" or "nominal" form. The number of companies giving bonuses in this way fell by 5% to 24% this year.

The data on year-end bonus plans for US companies comes less than a week after employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas released survey results on another popular year-end corporate activity — holiday parties.

According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, about 64% of US companies have held year-end parties. In 2022, nearly 57% of businesses plan to do so.

In a separate survey released earlier this month by PublicSquare, 42% of small business owners said they give their employees a Christmas bonus every year, but not this year.

The Wall Street Journal reported that 54% of employees at legal and accounting services firms increased their year-end bonuses by more than 50% compared to 2022; the asset management advisory sector also increased their Tet bonuses by 5%. Meanwhile, other financial sectors concentrated to decrease.

According to USA Today , the US Department of Labor data shows that the average annual job growth has decreased from 300,000 to 200,000 this year. Job openings have decreased from a record 12 million in 2022 to 9.5 million in September 2023.

Average annual pay increases also fell from 5.9% to 4.1%. Andy Miller, managing director of compensation consultancy Sala.com, said that because the job market has slowed, companies have not felt the need to increase employee bonuses.

Minh Hoa (reported by Lao Dong, Dan Tri)

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