Smaller employers surveyed by the National Federation of Independent Business said the cost of health insurance is their No. 1 problem in doing business today.

And nearly half the employers surveyed said they expected to increase initial salary offers to new employees - about one-sixth of those by 5 percent or more.

But in a recent survey by Hewitt Associates, a consulting firm, only 3 percent of the 922 employers surveyed said they had switched to the fixed-dollar approach.

Forty-two percent of the employers surveyed by Wyatt now require some payment from their employees for their own health coverage, up from 23 to 28 percent in the early 1980's.

Seven percent of the employers surveyed admitted they had engaged in "selective screening," placing more stringent requirements on job applicants whom they deemed "risky" under the new sanctions.

In fact, 78 percent of 856 employers surveyed last year by Hewitt Associates, a benefits consulting firm in Lincolnshire, Ill., had at least one type of variable pay.

Foster Higgins said about two-thirds of the employers surveyed in its study were offering to pay for health maintenance organizations.

In part because of concern over the issue, 45 percent of employers surveyed in 2001 by Hewitt Associates said they had no plans to offer brokerage accounts.

About 31 percent of the 14,000 employers surveyed in 422 cities by Manpower Inc., which provides temporary personnel, will add jobs, while only 6 percent plan to cut their payrolls.

The researchers reported that 22 percent of the employers surveyed did not know they could be penalized under the immigration law.