For months, Wall Street banks and the troubled automakers feverishly protested that their top executives would flee if they were not lavishly rewarded for their talents. New data, however, suggests the departures were more of a trickle than a flood.

Of the 104 senior executives whose pay was set by the federal pay regulator in the last two years, 88 executives, or nearly 85 percent, are still with the companies even though their pay was drastically cut back, according to people briefed on the government data.

The relative stability, at least within the executive suite, suggests that a soft job market, corporate loyalty and personal pride helped deter the feared management exodus at the companies hardest hit by the pay rules.

Kenneth R. Feinberg, the special master for executive compensation, is expected to release those findings on Tuesday when he formally approves the 2010 pay packages for last year’s 25 highest earners at five companies that received multiple bailouts. By the end of next month, he is expected to complete the formula that those companies will use to set the pay of the next 75 highest paid employees.