Salaries, At Least At Big Companies, May Be Finally Thawing

In a sharp increase from two months ago, more than half of employers now plan to unfreeze frozen salaries within the next six months, a 21 percent increase from two months ago.

Out of 201 large employers surveyed by Watson Wyatt, 54 percent of employers that froze salaries are planning to thaw them by April; 49 percent of companies that instituted a hiring freeze will at least partially reverse it.

Only 5 percent of companies believed they would never reverse the pay freeze.

These companies are hiring; almost all of them (96 percent) have extended offers to new employees in the past three months, and 93 percent anticipate hiring more in the coming three months.