Budgets for salary increases are the lowest they have been in the 25 years since The Conference Board began its annual salary increase budgets survey, the organization reported Tuesday.

Salary increase budgets refer to pools of money companies dedicate to salary increases for the coming year, and are, generally, represented as a percentage of payroll. The 2010 median forecast salary increase budget is 3.0%, half a percent lower than last year.

"This historic low suggests that, entering this holiday weekend, workers shouldn't be looking forward to much improvement in the labor market" said Linda Barrington, managing director of human capital at The Conference Board.

The survey included 291 companies.