1.   Rightly or wrongly, most employees regard annual raises as just cost-of-living increases.

2.   And workers can feel proud of their annual raises.

3.   Betty Duncan heard through the office grapevine that annual raises in the law firm where she works are only going to be in the two to four percent range.

4.   A graph of average annual raises in the last few years looks as flat as a western Kansas wheat field.

5.   Europeans are still used to annual raises that keep them ahead of inflation.

6.   He even gave them their annual raise in January.

7.   Holding onto a job now takes precedence over upward mobility, or getting decent annual raises.

8.   Millions of people entered the work force, enjoyed an annual raise, saw health care get better and watched hours get shorter.

9.   Pamela Luke, a nursing aide at the home, did not get the annual raise she expected this year.

10.   That means employers are more likely to give pay increases that reward performance rather than give annual raises as a matter of course.