SINGAPORE - Over 80 percent of the employers in China expect to increase the salaries of their employees by more than 6 percent this year, standing out from the employers in the region, according to the results of a latest survey.

The 2012 Hays Salary Guide released on Monday showed that the employers in Singapore expect to give their employees an average salary increase of between 3 percent and 6 percent in 2012.

About 44 percent of the employers in Singapore increased salaries last year between by 3 and 6 percent. Another 21 percent gave an increase of above 6 percent. But 28 percent of the employers gave increases of less than 3 percent, while the final 7 percent gave no increase at all.

Looking ahead, 50 percent of the employers in Singapore intend to increase salaries between 3 and 6 percent, while 23 percent said they will increase the salaries of their employees by over 6 percent.

Another 22 percent of the employers intend to increase salaries by less than 3 percent, while the other 5 percent of the employers intend to offer no increases this year.

In Japan, 98 percent of the employers expect to offer salary increases of 6 percent or less.

As for the bonus, 54 percent of the employers in Singapore intend to give a bonus to more than 50 percent of their staff, which is down by 10 percentage points from the previous year.

Nevertheless, the percentage of employers offering benefits to their staff inched up to 81 percent from 78 percent, with popular benefits including life assurance, pension and allowance.