A study released Tuesday by Hewitt Associates, a human resources consulting firm, found base pay will rise by 3.8 percent in 2009, marking the seventh consecutive year of flat growth.

One-time performance-based pay, however, is expected to grow by 10.6 percent. That's down slightly from 10.8 percent this year and 11.8 percent in 2007.

Performance-based rewards are popular since they don't commit companies to ongoing costs, said Ken Abosch, leader of Hewitt's compensation consulting business. The survey measured one-time performance-based awards and did not include raises based on performance.

"Most of the compensation growth today comes from (one-time merit-based) pay - it accounts for almost three-quarters of the increase," he said.

After rising quickly in the second half of the 1990s, most workers real wages have been stagnant in the 2000s, especially since 2003

While productivity jumped almost 20 percent since 2000, the real median hourly wage of all workers rose just 3 percent in the same period. Since 2003, productivity has risen 5 percent, while the median hourly wage fell 1.1 percent.

Women saw a bigger rise in wages between 2000 and 2007, up 4.7 percent. Real median wages for men during the same period were up just 1.1 percent.

Both high school and college workers saw hourly wage gains of about 2.5 percent since 2000.

Yet, in the period between 2003 and 2007, wage gains for median workers, male and female, as well as high school and college workers have all been flat or falling.

In a 2005 survey by Hewitt Associates, 59 percent of companies said they would not award holiday bonuses. But more than three-quarters of firms offer performance-based bonuses that must be reearned each year.

Among 1,500 small businesses, 39 percent plan to give employees holiday bonuses this year, according to Constant Contact, an e-mail marketing service for small businesses. That is up 2 percent from last year.

"For small businesses, cash flow and cash management are more difficult issues," says Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Contact. "It is harder to see out to the future and understand where cash will be next quarter and next year. It takes more confidence for a small business to pay a bonus."

Whatever a company's size, employees are frustrated by a "lack of clarity about how one qualifies for that bonus," says Bill Kuntz, vice president of Princeton One, an outplacement firm. "They want to be treated fairly and have clear expectations."

Authored by Global Insight Inc., the report on annual wage growth prepared for the Conference of Mayors shows the average job in 2005 earned a salary of $43,500 -- a 4.6 percent increase over 2004. The spike in energy costs, however, wiped out almost one-third of those increased earnings.

"We have known for months that families have been feeling the pinch from rising cost of gasoline. Now because of the latest Metro Economy Report, we see that the high cost of gasoline has significantly impacted people's disposable income -- despite recent wage gains. This is concrete proof that our nation needs a comprehensive energy policy that addresses these new economic realities," said Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Total energy expenditures in the U.S. in 2005 represent 5.9 percent of all consumer spending last year; and energy expenditures in 2005 increased a whopping 20.3 percent over 2004. U.S. households spent $287 billion to fuel cars and trucks, and $225 billion for heating, cooling, and electricity -- an amount equal to 9.0 percent of wages and salaries.

This compares to $230.4 billion spent by U.S. households on gasoline to power cars and trucks, and $195.4 billion spent on other energy costs in 2004 -- an amount equal to 7.9 percent of wages and salaries.

The report also illustrates the effect of rising fuel costs on consumer wage gains in individual cities. For example, the Atlanta metro area had wage increases of $1,740, but saw 45.6 percent of that gain eaten up by gasoline price increases of $792.90. In the Miami metro area, wage gains were $2,109, but gasoline price increases consumed 48.2 percent, or $1,016.10, of the increase. In Detroit, gasoline price increases were 41.7 percent of wage gains, $686 out of $1,646 wage gains. The impact was greatest in Spokane, Wash., where an increase of $549.70 in the price of gasoline ate up 78.2 percent of the area's average wage increase of $761.

One factor may be scarcity. In fields like engineering, a company may get one woman and seven men applying for a job, Farrell said. If the company wants to hire the woman, they may have to pay a premium to get her.

That's because she may have more competing offers than her male counterparts. The reason: not only is she a top performer who can boost a company's profitability but employing her helps a company improve its equal-opportunity standing, which in turn can help it secure government contracts.

Also, where women can combine technical expertise with people skills – such as those required in sales and other arenas where customers may prefer dealing with a woman - that's likely to contribute to a premium in pay.

"She gives people the best of both worlds," Farrell said.

Fifty-nine percent of companies say they won't be giving out holiday bonuses in any form this year. And of those that will, only 13 percent said they will be giving out bonuses in cash.

The rest will opt to give food gifts, gift certificates or retailer gift cards, according to a survey released Monday by Hewitt Associates.

Among the companies that said they would be giving cash, the average holiday bonus planned is $683, but the cash bonuses slated range between $25 and $2,500.

Employers said they would spend between $10 and $150 on gift certificates; $10 to $50 for food gifts; and $10 to $100 on retailer gift cards, according to Hewitt's survey.

So, with little slack in the job market, fatter paychecks ought to be close behind, right? Not this time. Salary increases have yet to bounce back in proportion to the strength of the overall market. And two recent surveys indicate that wages will rise only moderately in the coming months. Publishing company BNA's Wage Trend Indicator, which tracks private salaries and wages on a quarterly basis, predicts only a slight rise in third-quarter pay. More disheartening news comes from a recent survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, which projects average salaries to exceed inflation by only 1 percent in 2006, less than the 2.4 percent worldwide.

"Companies feel under such cost squeezes that they are looking at other alternatives than raising wages," says Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. That means holding a vacant position longer, for example, to wait for a more experienced candidate who won't require expensive training, or filling open jobs with less expensive, younger workers.