A NEW METHOD FOR FITTING SALARY CURVES.

The salary administrator often uses a set of curves to describe the relationship between salary and a maturity variable such as age or experience. The most common method for producing salary curves involves the fitting of a second-degree polynomial. This paper describes a method for improving such curves by means of a single restriction. Salary curves should be smooth, accurately fit the data, have a growth form, and in sets have conformable shapes but divergent slopes. Empirical evidence suggests that the new method produces salary curves which are always better, as judged by these five criteria. However, even the improved salary curves do not always satisfy these criteria to an acceptable degree. Author