After a long wait of three years, pay raises have finally made their way into the US job scenario. Employers will finally be hiking their staff's salaries after a long "frozen" period. However, the pay raises will not be very notable.

A WorldatWork report observes that the average hike anticipation time is around 12.4 to 12.7 months this year. When compared to the anticipation period of 2010, which was an average of 13.7 months, the current waiting time paints a better picture.

Most of the workers in the U.S. can expect a 3 percent hike in their salaries. However, some top performers can even expect a larger hike, reports CNN Money.

 "Three percent raises are the new normal. I don't think anyone should expect merit increases to deviate that much going forward, even if the economy does well,"  Ravin Jesuthasan, compensation expert and managing director at management consultant company, Towers Watson, told NBC News.

 "Top performers, people who do the best at going above and beyond their job descriptions, will see the biggest pay increases of all, roughly 50 percent more than the average worker" Kerry Chou, compensation practice leader at WorldatWork told CNN Money.

The salary hikes will not be very munificent because the rate of unemployment is still on a high tide and with the issues of fiscal cliff and other government regulations; a bulky hike is not a feasible option for companies. However, workers can expect better hikes and incentives in the coming year.

Recruiting experts have also declared that assigning promotions will become easier in the coming year.

"We're seeing a nice uptick in the percentage of people offered promotions, and also the size of the pay increase that people get for the promotion has gone up. Promotions are double-edged swords, though, because more pay comes with more work and responsibility" David Van De Voort, pioneer at Buck Consultants told NBC News.

Various other trends have been predicted by the compensation experts. Recruiting pioneers assert that pay hikes will be the highest among people working in the energy sector. However, workers in the education sector and government employees may not receive any hikes at all.