Raises Are Back, But Smaller [POLL/AUDIO]

There's good and bad news about raises from a new survey of 1,500 firms.

The survey reveals the average raise this year will be 2.8 percent. In 2014, it will be 2.9 percent. The survey also shows seven percent of the workforce will get 54 percent of the raise money.

"Essentially, employers are saying, 'well, if you can find another job, go ahead. We're just not going to pay you more money to stay with our firm,'" Carl Van Horn, of the Rutgers Workforce Development Center,says.

Van Horn points out that these increases are much smaller than raises before the recession, and many are losing ground to inflation.

One reason for the low rate of raises is the still-high unemployment rate. Van Horn points out that for most companies, it is still a buyer's market, so there's less incentive to reward workers.