After Years of Shrinking, Bonuses Went Up in 2024

Not all workers get year-end bonuses, but most of those who did received bigger ones for 2024, according to payroll software company Gusto. The company says the average bonus at the end of the year was $2,503, up from $2,447 in 2023, CNBC reports. That's an average rise of 2% year-on-year, but bonuses remained well below the 2022 average of $2,730. In 2019, the average bonus was $3,583, per the North Bay Business Journal.

Emelie Vignon at the Robert Walters Group recruitment firm tells the Business Journal that around 43% of the company's clients said they were very likely to hand out bonuses in 2025, with 24% somewhat likely and 14% unlikely. Nick Tremper, Gusto's senior economist, tells CNBC that the economy "ended 2024 much better than expected and small businesses are taking advantage of that—that includes wages and compensation for the current employees."

Tremper says that with the labor market tight in some fields, employers are trying to retain their top performers with generous bonuses, but companies are moving away from giving cash bonuses to all employees. According to Gusto, there was a lot of variation by industry—workers in tech, communications, and professional services tended to get bigger bonuses, while workers in industries like transportation and warehousing tended to get smaller bonuses because of reduced demand. (More bonuses stories.)