That's the generally accepted wisdom, I think.<p>At my previous employer, we (usually) received a 3-4% raise per year. I was technically a state government employee, so this usually dependent upon budgets, the political climate, etc.<p>The largest raise I ever received (without changing jobs) was because I told my boss and H.R. that I was offered and going to accept a different position in a different department in a different city. I was offered a $10k/year salary raise along with a change in how my position was classified (which provided more benefits, including a pretty substantial increase in the company's contribution to my retirement plan).<p>(I should note, though, that this was right at the same time as our annual "performance reviews" were going on and upper management was quite pleased with me that year for saving them six figures in a lawsuit from another employee. I suspect they might have not tried as hard to keep me if it weren't for that.)