salary negotiation

I presume you've got a performance and salary review coming up?  Is that correct?  If that is correct, I honestly don't think it's reasonable to expect to recover the full amount you lost in one year - or course that depends on how much you're earning now.  Assuming you've been doing a great job for the past year, I think you can realistically expect to receive about a 3% increase in salary.  If that translates into an increase of $10K in salary, great!  If it doesn't, I think you can politely ask if the proposed increase is negotiable and see what sort of response you receive.  If it's not negotiable, I think you take the increase and say, "Thank you very much."  If the increase is negotiable and if you're asked what sort of increase you have in mind, I'd propose a range.  I'd say I was, "anticipating an increase in the range of 5% to 10% more," than you were earning before - and that's higher than most people are going to receive this year.  Furthermore, if you go that way, you also need to be fully prepared to point out why the job is worth that much more based on things like your overall job performance, goals met, objectives achieved, initiatives taken, responsibilities assumed - anything that will clearly show that you not only did a great job, but more than the job requires.  I regret to say it, but I think it's going to take 2 or 3 years to recover your position in terms of salary - particularly in this economy.  Hope this helps, nevertheless.