Further pay cuts are unlikely in the private sector this year or next, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey.

About half of Irish business plan pay increases this year, rising to 60 per cent in 2012, the Reward Trends Snapshot Survey found, with pay freezes remaining in between 40 and 47 per cent.

Those companies that are expecting pay rises expect the increase to be about 2 per cent both this year and next.

There are differences across sectors with almost all respondents in the ICT, telecoms, medical device and pharma sectors anticipating pay rises next year compared to 47 per cent among banking and construction related companies. Thirty-five per cent of respondents said they were reviewing their incentive and bonus plans this year or next.

PwC said salary pressure appeared to be driven primarily by skills shortages in certain sectors, notably risk and compliance, software engineering and senior roles in IT, finance and sales.