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The newly released 2012 salary guides from Robert Half International indicate that starting salaries will increase an average of 3.4% next year as the hiring climate for experienced workers gets more competitive.  Tech positions will increase 4.5 percent, the largest gain of the five surveyed industry groups.  The legal field will show the smallest increase, with salaries gaining an average of 1.9%, according to the guides.

Although the economy hasn't improved enough yet for employers to hike pay, they are at least offering employees more perks, suggests a new survey by Robert Half International subsidiary Accountemps.

Upon querying 1,400 chief financial officers (CFOs) from a random sample of U.S. companies with 20 or more employees, Accountemps found respondents are increasingly relying on perks to retain top employees and attract new ones. The perks are mainly things like subsidized training/education, flexible work hours/telecommuting, and mentoring programs. The percentages of CFOs offering these perks in 2011 were 29%, 24%, and 24%, respectively.