The survey, which polled more than 1,600 organisations in 11 economies, found the trend in Singapore in line with that of many Asia-Pacific countries as the downturn causes firms - big and small - to be more cautious about dishing out higher wages to employees.

In Singapore, where about 85 companies were polled, 25 of them had frozen salaries for this year. In more than half of the cases, the decision to do so was made by global headquarters.

'The labour market has changed considerably, reflecting the rapid deterioration of Asian economic growth,' said Mr Russell Huntington, Asia-Pacific director of Watson Wyatt's Human Capital Group. 'Companies now see no need to increase salaries aggressively. Indeed, many take the opportunity to freeze salary costs.'

This is particularly so in locations where businesses are much more exposed to the slowdown in global trade, such as Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, he said.

The survey, which was conducted from Feb 1 to March 15, also showed that the budget for salary increases in Singapore has also dropped sharply from 5.3 per cent in July last year to 2.1 per cent in March this year.

By comparison, the budget for salary increases for companies in Hong Kong shrank from 5 per cent to 1.9 per cent.

Significant reductions were also seen in mainland China (9.8 per cent to 5 per cent), Indonesia (12.8 per cent to 8.6 per cent) and the Philippines (9.5 per cent to 5.4 per cent).

The data also broke down anticipated salary increases across industry sectors. In Singapore, for example, energy and power firms are tipping a pay rise of 3.1 per cent this year.

Chemical companies were the next most generous, anticipating a salary rise of 3 per cent. This was followed by firms from consumer products and fast moving consumer goods at 2.8 per cent.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.