Global compensation trends are shifting fast as companies hire beyond borders and remote work becomes routine.
Key Points
For businesses trying to build international teams, pay is no longer just a budget line. It is a strategic tool that affects who they can hire, where they can expand, and how long top performers stay. Deel’s 2025 Global Compensation Report offers a data‑driven look at these global compensation trends and how employers are adapting in real time.
The report highlights where pay is highest, how AI roles are changing salary structures, why equity is spreading into new markets, and where gaps in gender and employment type still remain.
Deel’s 2025 Report Maps Global Compensation Trends
Deel’s study tracks global compensation trends across both emerging and developed economies. It focuses on three main areas:
- Major shifts in worldwide talent markets
- The rise of new, specialized AI positions
- The growing role of equity in attracting and retaining skilled workers
The report is designed to help HR and business leaders make informed, equitable pay decisions as they scale across borders.
Where Pay Is Highest Around The World
One of the clearest global compensation trends in the report is the continued dominance of a few countries at the top of the pay scale.
According to Deel, Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. still lead the world in overall median compensation, with Germany and the Netherlands close behind. Salary levels stretch from around $100,000 in the Netherlands to about $150,000 in the United States, depending on role and seniority.
Within those markets, specialized positions are seeing even stronger gains. As companies compete for scarce skills, global compensation trends are being shaped more by what employers will pay for niche expertise than by broad country averages alone.
AI Roles Redefine Global Compensation Trends
Nowhere is this clearer than in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
As AI shifts from theory to practical deployment across functions like finance, HR and product, companies are creating new roles focused on specific AI capabilities. These positions stand out in today’s global compensation trends.
Deel’s report finds that AI and machine learning roles command a total compensation premium of about 20%–25%, and that premium is rising. Even more striking, top‑tier salaries at the 90th percentile are growing faster than median global pay, a sign of intense competition for elite AI talent.
For employers, these global compensation trends mean that simply matching average market salaries may no longer be enough. To secure top AI experts, they may need to budget for significantly higher offers than for other technical roles.
Inflation Pushes Employers Toward New Pay Strategies
While AI pay surges, organizations also have to contend with a tougher macro backdrop. Inflation remains a challenge in many economies, and that reality is shaping global compensation trends in more traditional roles.
Rather than relying solely on recurring base‑salary increases, some businesses are experimenting with one‑time lump‑sum payments. Deel notes that this approach is particularly common in hyperinflation environments such as Turkey and Argentina, where automatic, compounding raises could quickly become unsustainable.
At the same time, many employers are reshaping compensation packages by adding or expanding equity. This mix of short‑term cash tactics and long‑term incentives is becoming a central feature of global compensation trends as companies try to keep payrolls manageable while still rewarding employees.
Equity Moves To The Center Of Modern Pay Packages
Equity has been part of tech compensation for years, but Deel’s report shows it is now a core element of global compensation trends for highly skilled technical talent.
Since 2021, equity has appeared frequently in packages for in‑demand workers. Median grants of ownership give HR teams a way to compete for talent without pushing base salaries too high.
Deel’s data show that:
- The U.S. remains the clear leader in equity package size.
- Canada and France follow, offering meaningful ownership stakes to attract candidates.
- The U.K. and the Netherlands have seen a downward trend in equity levels.
- In emerging markets like Brazil and India, equity is becoming an increasingly valued part of total pay.
For companies hiring across borders, these patterns in global compensation trends underscore the need to benchmark equity by country, not just salary. Local norms and expectations can differ widely, so copying one market’s model into another may not be effective.
Gender Pay Gaps Expose A Persistent Divide
Beyond geography and role type, Deel’s 2025 report highlights how global compensation trends still reflect gender disparities, especially in technical fields.
The data show that gender pay gaps are wider in tech and product roles than in sales. Median pay for men in these functions is about $88,000, compared with $62,000 for women. That gap is compounded by a shortage of women in leadership positions across tech, product and sales.
In response, HR teams are working to close both the pay and leadership gaps by actively targeting female candidates and designing hiring strategies that reach underrepresented groups. These efforts suggest that global compensation trends may gradually shift toward greater equity, but the report makes clear that progress is still uneven.
Contractors Gain Ground As Remote Work Persists
Employment type is another important piece of today’s global compensation trends. Deel’s report notes that some countries remain dominated by traditional full‑time employees, while others are seeing faster growth in contract work.
- The U.S. and Germany still feature largely FTE‑heavy workforces.
- The share of contracted workers has risen in the Netherlands, the U.K., Spain and Canada.
Deel links this shift partly to the ongoing popularity of remote work and the rise of new visa categories designed for remote and freelance workers. These policy changes make it easier for businesses to tap into overseas talent pools without establishing full local entities.
For HR leaders looking to diversify their teams, countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Argentina offer strong, growing contractor talent pools. This trend is increasingly central to global compensation trends, as companies balance the flexibility of contract engagements with the stability of full‑time hires.
What Global Compensation Trends Mean For Employers
Taken together, Deel’s findings paint a picture of global compensation trends that are more complex—and more strategic—than in past cycles.
Key takeaways for employers include:
- High‑income markets like the U.S., Canada and the U.K. still set the top of the global pay scale, but specialized roles, especially in AI, are pulling even further ahead.
- Inflation and cost pressures are prompting new pay structures, from lump‑sum bonuses to broader use of equity.
- Equity is no longer limited to Silicon Valley; it is spreading to emerging markets where tech talent increasingly expects ownership opportunities.
- Gender gaps in pay and leadership remain significant in tech and product roles, pushing HR to rethink recruitment and advancement strategies.
- The mix of FTEs and contractors is changing as remote work and digital hiring platforms expand global access to skills.
For businesses unsure how to navigate these global compensation trends, Deel positions itself as a partner. The company helps organizations hire both full‑time employees and contractors in more than 150 countries, handling payroll, tax and compliance through a single platform so teams can focus on work rather than paperwork.
As competition for talent intensifies, understanding global compensation trends may become just as important as understanding product‑market fit. The 2025 Global Compensation Report suggests that the companies willing to rethink how—and where—they pay people will be the ones best positioned to build high‑performing international teams.
