Deel, the global HR and payroll platform, has released its State of Global Compensation Report 2025 in collaboration with Carta, an equity management company.
Based on Deel’s vast dataset covering over one million contracts and more than 35,000 customers across 150+ countries — the report offers deep insights into global pay trends. It aims to help organisations and professionals benchmark compensation more accurately and make transparent, equitable, and data-driven pay decisions.
Key Global and India Insights
- Compensation leaders remain unchanged: The US ($95K–$150K), UK ($82K–$117K), and Canada ($73K–$121K) continue to offer the highest median salaries across job categories.
- AI job specialisation accelerates: Roles in AI, cybersecurity, and digital marketing command 20-25% higher pay due to talent scarcity and undefined benchmarks.
- Equity grants on the rise: Equity-based compensation continues to grow globally, particularly in emerging markets such as Brazil and India. The US leads in equity package size, followed by Canada and France.
- Shift in contractor hiring: Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil now rely heavily on contractor talent (80-90%), while the US and Germany remain FTE-centric. India maintains a hybrid workforce, with 60-70% full-time employees and 30–40% contractors, reflecting continued flexibility in hiring models.
- Gender pay gap narrows in India: While disparities persist globally. especially in tech and leadership roles, India stands out for one of the world’s smallest gender pay gaps. Median salaries for both men and women now range between $13K and $23K, depending on role and function.
- Median pay drops in India’s tech sector: Engineering and data professionals in India saw a median salary decline from $36K in 2024 to $22K in 2025, a 40% fall. Meanwhile, the US recorded a rise from $122K to $150K in the same period.
“It’s encouraging to see India emerge as one of the few countries where the gender pay gap has narrowed significantly. Median salaries for men and women now stand nearly equal, both ranging between $13K and $23K, marking one of the smallest gender pay gaps globally,” says Mark Samlal, General Manager, APAC at Deel. “This progress reflects a broader shift toward fairness, transparency, and data-driven compensation models that reward merit over bias.”
About the Report
The State of Global Compensation Report 2025 analyses data from Deel’s extensive payroll and hiring platform. Countries and job groups included were selected based on hiring activity and expanded data coverage. Deel refined its methodology in 2024-2025 to ensure deeper, more comprehensive insights, increasing sample sizes and including previously unreported regions and sectors.Each country in this analysis meets a minimum threshold of 50 contracts to maintain statistical accuracy and reliability. The report aims to serve as a practical resource for organisations tracking pay trends and planning international talent strategies.
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