Salary Data: Leading Indicator of Expenses

When it comes to predicting top-line revenue, there are a lot of datasets to help: credit card, satellite imagery, etc. This data is readily available and is, as a result, incorporated into models and various data analytics software tools used to influence investment decisions. However, when it comes to predicting expenses, there are few datasets available. Predicting expenses is a complex task because: (i) compensation data is rarely disclosed to the public; and (ii) compensation for contingent workers is unavailable (in some cases a company’s workforce can be two thirds contingent workers).

Using Revelio Labs’ employment data and data analytics software tools, which leverage H1B Visa data and job posting data to predict individual salaries in a company, we were able to add those salaries by company to predict each company’s expenses and found that for many industries salaries comprised ~80% of overall expenses.

Above, Alphabet and Salesforce mimic a similar trend seen across organizations—salary data is a strong leading indicator of expenses.

For more info on Revelio Labs and our HR data, please feel free to reach out.