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Published on January 18, 2008

Last year, Indian workers' salaries increased 12.6 per cent. Vietnam's 10-per-cent prediction shows a notable increase over the 8.5-per-cent salary increments actually given last year.

Japan is expected to experience the region's lowest salary increases again this year, forecast to remain at 3 per cent - the same as last year.

Throughout Asia, workers continue to receive the highest salary increases worldwide, with the average figure for the region forecast at 7.3 per cent, well above the global average of 5.9 per cent.

ECA International is the world's largest membership organisation for international human resources, serving a global network of more than 4000 human-resource professionals in 71 countries.

Singapore's workers can expect salary increases of 5 per cent, Hong Kong's 4 per cent and China's 8 per cent. The survey predicted the Philippines would join India, Indonesia, Vietnam and China this year as the fifth Asian country in the top 10 and seeing the largest salary increases in the survey.

Salary increases in the region are predicted to be more than 25 per cent higher than they were in 2005, and for the first time the region's salary increases are expected to overtake those of Eastern Europe, where wage rises are showing signs of stabilising.

The survey said within the region, real wage increases - the difference between actual salary increases and inflation - had shown a rising trend in recent years. However, unexpectedly fast inflation growth over the past three months prompted by significant rises in oil, food and accommodation costs will counterbalance many of these high salary increases.

"This latest upswing in inflation, which has caught many people by surprise, will have an impact on real salary increases in 2008," said Lee Quane, general manager of ECA International. "When many companies calculated salary increases for 2008, inflation forecasts were relatively low. "

The Nation