WHILE hiring is creeping up, pay is expected to rise as well.

Two polls - by Hewitt Associates and HR Business Solutions - show that employees can expect bigger wage increases next year for Singapore and the region.

Hewitt Associates has tipped salaries here to rise by 2.6 per cent next year, while HR Business Solutions projects pay hikes for local firms to come in at 2.8 per cent next year.

In India, base salary levels are poised to jump nearly 10 per cent.

Salaries in Indonesia and China will also surge, by 8.7 per cent and 6.7 per cent respectively, whereas workers in Japan can expect a paltry 2.1 per cent pay rise, according to the survey by Hewitt.

Salaries - or annual guaranteed pay - this year in Asia's fast-growing economic powerhouses China and India, at 4.5 per cent and 6.3 per cent respectively, were the lowest since 2005, Hewitt said.