Most mid-size and large employers expect to increase salaries next year by nearly 3 percent, according to Mercer’s 2012/2013 U.S. Compensation Planning Survey.

Specifically, 98 percent of the 1,500 mid-sized and large employers surveyed they expect to increase salaries next year, with the average being 2.9 percent, CNNMoney reports. This is an increase from the 2.7 percent pay raise employees saw in both 2011 and 2012.

The pay increase for the highest-performing employees, who make up 8 percent of the workforce, is expected to be 4.5 percent, while the pay increase for average workers, which represent 54 percent of the workforce, is expected to be 2.4 percent. For the lowest-performing employees, which represent 2 percent of the workforce, the pay increase could be as little as 0.1 percent.

Editor's Note: Prophetic Economist Warns: “It’s Curtains for America.” See Evidence.

Firms in the oil and gas industry expect to increase salaries an average of 4.1 percent, while educators and firms in the healthcare sector expect to increase salaries 2.5 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.

In addition, 2013 will be the third consecutive year in which employers expect to have less salary cuts and freezes. Just 1.5 percent of the firms surveyed expect to freeze salaries next year, a decrease from 5.1 percent this year and 5.9 percent in 2011, according to CNNMoney.

Regarding executive pay, only 1.9 percent of the companies surveyed plan to freeze executive pay compared with 8.2 percent of employer who froze executive pay this year.

Overall, 74 percent of the respondents said the top factor influencing compensation is the need to retain talent, followed by the need to strengthen the performance-based culture and provide pay for performance (66 percent) and to attain talent (57 percent), Louisville’s Business First.

According to Catherine Hartmann, head of Mercer's compensation consulting business, “Employers continue to recognize that in order to attract and retain top-performing employees, they’re going to have to reward them in line with industry dynamics,” CNNMoney reports.

Editor's Note: Prophetic Economist Warns: “It’s Curtains for America.” See Evidence.