DETROIT  General Motors and Chrysler, which posted much-improved results last year after reorganizing in bankruptcy court in 2009, said Friday that they would pay bonuses to salaried workers in the United States.

A small number of workers at each company could get bonuses equal to at least 50 percent of their salaries. G.M. said that fewer than 1 percent of the 26,000 employees getting a bonus would receive such an amount. Neither company is giving its salaried workers raises.

The bonuses will range from 4 percent to 16 percent of annual pay for 96 percent of G.M.’s white-collar work force, the statement said.

G.M. had its first profitable year in 2010 since 2004. Through September, G.M. earned $4.2 billion, but it has yet to report fourth-quarter and full-year earnings.