NEW DELHI, India, Nov. 23 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Asia's markets have demonstrated further growth in the last year, which has impacted salaries throughout the region. Many employers are reporting pay increases in 2005 and this trend looks likely to continue in 2006. In addition, fewer companies are implementing pay freezes, according to the annual Asia-Pacific Salary Increase Survey conducted by Hewitt Associates (NYSE: HEW), a global human resources services firm.
This year, India once again reported the highest average salary increase at 13.9%, and employees in the Indian IT-enabled industry received the highest increase across all five groups surveyed at 17.9%.
The Philippines recorded an impressive average overall salary increase of 8.2%, which was closely followed by China at 8.1%. As Thailand's economy continues to strengthen, employees enjoyed average salary increases of 6.3%.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's salary increase budget ranged from 5.4% to 6.1%, and Singapore saw increases ranging from 3.4% to 4.3%. Salaries also rose in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
"As companies around the world continue to invest significant resources in Asia, they not only boost the local economies, but the local employment markets. And with an increasing number of organizations turning their attention to countries such as India and China, it comes as no surprise that salary increases in these markets were among the highest in the region," said Nishchae Suri, head of Hewitt's Talent and Organization Consulting Analytics practice in Asia.
Further Increases Likely in 2006
Asia looks set for slow but steady economic growth in 2006, and many employers are demonstrating their faith in the region by projecting similar salary increases next year.
Fewer companies reported salary freezes for 2005 than 2004, and on the whole this improvement looks set to continue into 2006. In Korea, 5% of survey participants say they expect a salary freeze, compared to 4% in China and 3% in the Philippines. Meanwhile, 2.6% of employers in India and 2% in Hong Kong say they expect a salary freeze in 2006. None of the participating companies in Australia, Malaysia, Taiwan or Thailand expect salary freezes next year.
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