Such pay data carries a warning in The Consulting Salaries Report 2026. “The era of automatic, year-over-year starting salary increases is over – at least for now,” observes Management Consulted. “As we wrote last year, and as 2026 has now confirmed, firms are able to hold the line on compensation not because consulting is struggling, but because it has become more efficient, more selective, and more strategically disciplined about talent investment…While demand for consulting services should remain healthy ...