Asia employers increasingly turn to wage freezes

Asia employers increasingly turn to wage freezes

Deutsche Presse Agentur, Singapore

Employers in Asia are increasingly turning to wage freezes in
2003 with salary hike prospects clouded by a shaky global
economic rebound and the threat of a U.S. war with Iraq,
according to a survey published on Thursday.

Indonesia, India and China are the notable exceptions, with
employers forecast to jack up managers' salaries by an average 12
percent, 10 percent and 8 percent respectively, said HR Business
Solutions (HRBS).

"Pay-increase trends for 2003 remain flat and, to a large
extent, mirror those of 2002 for the majority of Asia-Pacific
countries," The Business Times quoted Elaine Ng, HRBS managing
principal as saying.

The survey by the Hong Kong-based human resource and
compensation consultancy covered 88 firms, mostly multinational
corporations.

Sixteen percent of those queried in Singapore indicated they
will freeze salaries in 2003, but Hong Kong fared the worst.

"The 2003 pay increase forecast dips by more than one-third
from an average of 2.73 percent in 2002 for 2 percent in 2003,"
Ng said.

Pay for professionals and workers in Singapore, where
unemployment has risen to 4.8 percent, is expected is increase by
an average of 3.5 percent this year against an estimate of 3.1
percent for 2002.

"Throughout Asia in 2003, in all of the 16 countries surveyed,
there are employers implementing wage freeze," Ng said.

Japanese employers are budgeting for pay hikes of only about 2
percent while Taiwan's manager raises are forecast at 4.0
percent.

Employers in booming China, on the other hand, are likely to
jack up salaries 7.5 percent on average in 2003 according to the
survey.

Despite China's projected growth of 7.9 percent, the HRBS
survey showed Indonesia and India to be the most generous when it
comes to expected raises.

"The higher pay increase in Indonesia reflects the
significantly high inflation rate of 8.7 percent expected in
2003," Ng told the newspaper.

For India, the increase reflects the expected growth rate of
6.3 percent.