Office Workers’ Average Pay Up by Just 1% in ’93 : Compensation: With the regional inflation rate at 2.5%, many saw a decline in real income, survey shows.

Pay increases for office workers in Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties were almost nil last year, falling short of Southern California’s 2.5% inflation rate in 1993, according to survey results released by Thomas Temporaries, an Irvine-based temporary help service.

Average wages in Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties increased by just 1% during the past year, causing a drop in real income for many households, according to the survey of 1,219 Southern California companies.

“Even though employers are cautiously optimistic about expanding their work forces, they are not optimistic enough to administer pay increases to employees,” said Gene C. Wilson, president of Thomas Temporaries.

What little salary growth did occur might actually have been driven by corporate decisions to unfreeze salaries previously frozen in a bid to contain costs, Wilson said.

Los Angeles County offered the highest pay for office workers in Southern California during 1993, but monthly salaries for new hires remained unchanged, according to the survey. Pay levels for experienced office workers in Los Angeles County remained flat at $1,950 per month.

Orange County ranked second in average pay, according to the survey, but monthly wages were basically unchanged from the 1992 levels of $1,625 for new hires and $1,935 for those with at least three years’ experience.

Average pay for office workers in Riverside County increased by 6%, with new hires earning $1,478 a month and experienced workers receiving $1,791. But Inland Empire wages continued to trail the rest of Southern California.

The survey, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5%, was conducted by Strategic Consulting & Research in Irvine.