Asian wages seen up next year amid crisis

Asian wages seen up next year amid crisis

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Net wages are likely to rise in most
countries of Asia next year -- Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia
being the exceptions -- despite the region's economic crisis,
U.S. funds survey firm William Mercer said on Wednesday.

Net wages in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia would fall
because inflation rates were likely to be much higher than the
wage increases, the survey said.

It said net salaries in Malaysia and Thailand were likely to
drop five percent and those in Indonesia, the country worst hit
by the Asian crisis, were expected to fall 5.5 percent.

The survey said the biggest net salary increases would be in
China, where wages were likely to rise 5.6 percent, while those
in the Philippines were expected to inch up by 0.5 percent.

It said net salaries were likely to rise one percent in South
Korea, 2.7 percent in Japan, 3.0 percent in Hong Kong, 4.4
percent in Taiwan and 5.5 percent in India.

Net salaries in Singapore were likely to rise two percent.
But the survey said that figure did not include a 50-percent cut
in employer contributions to Singapore's compulsory pension
scheme, the Central Provident Fund (CPF), as part of recent
government moves to cut business costs.

Singaporeans can use some of their CPF money for investments
like mortgages and buying approved stocks.

"CPF goes to the CPF account. It is not like cash in your
pocket where you can easily dish out from the wallet and just
spend," Hong Kong-based Elaine Ng, director of performance and
reward at William Mercer, told Reuters.

If the CPF cut were included, Singapore's net salaries would
fall eight percent and make the country's labor costs competitive
with Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan, she said.

The report said net salaries in Asia this year -- except for
China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Philippines -- fell below the
levels before Asia was hit by the economic crisis in the middle
of last year.

For Singapore, the average annual salaries of managers fell
about US$3,000 to US$82,000, professionals' pay dropped about
US$2,000 to US$38,000 and workers were paid US$11,000, down by
US$1,000 compared to 1996.

William Mercer said it collected data from about 1,200
companies in China, India, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore,
South Korea, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia for the survey.