Almost every company in Beijing - Chinese and foreign-owned - have or will hike monthly salaries for workers during 2011, a survey has found.

More than half of 500 enterprises polled in March also said they will boost pay by more than 8 percent on 2010 levels.

Almost all of the bosses who responded to the Human Resource Association of Foreign and Chinese Enterprises' survey said the raises are a result of the upturn in business following the global recession.

"The average adjustment will be large in 2011," said Jiao Zixia, a HR manager for a United States-owned manufacturing company in Chaoyang district.

She added that many firms froze salary hikes in 2008 and 2009 during the financial crisis.

Zhang, a white-collar worker for an American accounting company in Dongcheng district who did not want to be identified, told METRO he got a rise of just 10 percent in 2009 - 30 percent less than usual.

"It returned to normal in 2010 and the rise this year should also be 40 percent, which will help me recover from the previous two years," he said.

According to the survey, 71 percent of companies saw business improve last year, with 75 percent planning to expand their work staff in the near future.

The Human Resource Association, a registered NGO, was set up 15 years ago and has more than 620 members, mostly Fortune 500 companies and leading Chinese corporations.

"The information it supplies is very reliable and useful," said Li Wei, a senior HR manager at a high-tech Chinese company in Haidian district.

"As it's a non-profit organization, member enterprises are prone to give real information during its surveys."

China Daily

(China Daily 06/02/2011)