Employers, who as recently as October said they were barely modifying their salary budgets for 2009, have changed their tune in December, this time bringing some workers' projected annual pay raises to a low not seen in three decades.

Overall, workers are now projected to receive average annual merit increases of 3% next year, according to a new survey from Lincolnshire, Ill.-based Hewitt Associates Inc. When polled in October, employers said they had already lowered their budgets to 3.6% from 3.8% in July.

The...