WTW’s latest Salary Budget Planning Survey, conducted between September and November 2025 and based on 36,960 responses worldwide (1,876 in the US), finds that US salary budgets for 2026 are projected to remain unchanged at 3.4%, matching the 2025 increase. Nearly two-thirds of employers (62%) made no adjustments to mid-year budget forecasts; 6% raised budgets while 21% lowered them, driven by cost management concerns (36%), recession fears or weak results (36%), tight labor markets (32%) and inflationary pressures (25%). Voluntary turnover dipped to 10.1% over the past year, and organizations are reallocating pay dollars to high-impact contributors, addressing pay compression and investing in retention initiatives such as enhanced employee experience (50%), training (43%) and wellness benefits (42%). Heather Ryan, WTW’s Rewards Data Intelligence Head of Product, notes a shift to strategic, outcome-aligned reward allocation that will shape compensation practices beyond 2026.

Willis, a WTW business, partnered with Oxford Analytica to survey senior defense executives and identify five key risks facing the sector: scale versus sovereignty trade-offs, tariff wars, China dependence for materials like rare earths, phantom spending where budget pledges may not materialize, and failure to reindustrialize domestic capacity. The report highlights that debt-to-GDP ratios topping 100% in Europe, North America and Japan could trigger fiscal strains and social backlash against higher defense allocations, jeopardizing long-term commitments. Sam Wilkin, Director of Political Risk Analytics at Willis, warns that this era of state-sponsored violence demands agile procurement strategies and robust supply-chain resilience, underscoring significant operational implications for defense contractors worldwide.