7 in 10 planned to give their staff a 1 to 5% pay increase（zz[SINGAPORE] Salary hikes in Singapore are likely to remain conservative, even as pressing issues such as a shortage of skills and staff turnover continue to persist in the coming year. So says a new report on the salary and employment forecast for Singapore this year by UK-based recruitment consultancy firm Michael Page, which polled more than 300 companies here. The findings, released yesterday, showed that seven in 10 employers planned to give their staff a one to 5 per cent pay increase over the next 12 months. Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) said that they would hand out a 6 to 10 per cent increase, while only 7 per cent said that they would pay 11 per cent or higher. Some 74 per cent of employers said that all their staff would get an increase of some sort, but this would vary according to their performance. Five per cent, however, said that they would not give any raises at all. This comes as employers expect to continue to struggle with th (more...)