This year's salary negotiations showed a decline in the proportion of workers receiving raises compared to last year, while the average increase rate rose.
According to a survey of 1,305 employees on "2026 salary negotiation results" released by HR tech company Incruit on the 4th, 40.7% of all respondents said they had conducted salary negotiations this year.
Among those who negotiated, 61.4% reported receiving a raise from last year. However, this proportion fell 5.3 percentage points year-on-year. The decline occurred across all company sizes: large corporations (-9.3 percentage points), mid-sized companies (-8.8 percentage points), small and medium enterprises (-5.2 percentage points), and public corporations and institutions (-3.0 percentage points).
By company size, the proportion receiving raises was highest at public corporations and institutions at 77.0%, followed by large corporations at 67.1%, mid-sized companies at 64.2%, and small and medium enterprises at 55.2%.
Among those who received raises, the average increase was 7.5%, up 2.1 percentage points from last year's 5.4%. While fewer workers got raises, the increases were larger.
Some 36.2% of respondents said their salary was frozen, while 2.4% reported cuts. The freeze rate rose 6.7 percentage points year-on-year, marking the highest level in three years.
Satisfaction with negotiation results was low. Among those who negotiated, 58.9% expressed dissatisfaction, with 40.3% somewhat dissatisfied and 18.6% very dissatisfied.
After negotiations, 23.5% requested salary adjustments. Of these, 48.0% said their salary increased following the adjustment. Large corporations showed the highest success rate at 66.7%, followed by public corporations and institutions at 53.3%, mid-sized companies at 44.8%, and small and medium enterprises at 41.7%.
Meanwhile, 52.9% of respondents said they felt the urge to resign after salary negotiations. Among them, 92.5% said they plan to seek new employment citing salary as the reason.
The survey was conducted from February 12 to 20, with a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of ±2.25 percentage points.