(From the Wall Street Journal) Many employers are planning to reinstate merit increases in 2010, but some compensation experts say base salaries are unlikely to return to pre-recession levels anytime soon, if ever.

Of 555 large U.S. employers polled in October, 83% said they will give out raises next year, while only about half did so in 2009, reports Lincolnshire, Ill.-based Hewitt Associates Inc. None anticipate pay reductions next year, after 10% cut salaries in 2009, according to data Hewitt collected.

Companies will raise salaries in 2010 by an average of 2.5%, the second-lowest level on record since this year, when salaries dipped to 1.8%, the survey shows. In 2002, companies raised salaries an average 3.6%, then the lowest level on record, which was down from 4.3% in 2001, Hewitt reports.

“We’re going to be living in the upper 2% and lower 3% neighborhood for a very long time,” says Ken Abosch, North American compensation practice leader for Hewitt. “Companies have fought very hard to bring their cost structure under control and they’re not going to easily allow costs to creep back.”

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