Wages are expected to rise faster in Belgium than in Germany, France and the Netherlands in the period 2020-2022, the Central Economic Council (CEC) estimated on Wednesday. In a technical report, this advisory body of the social partners, said it expected that wages in Belgium would increase by 8.8% during these three years, compared to an average of 7.6% for Germany, France and the Netherlands. A gap of 1.2% in particular reinforced by inflation, which is much higher in Belgium at the moment than in France or Germany.
Belgian wages are in fact often linked automatically to inflation, via the indexation mechanism. The coronavirus also plays a role, with people who have left the hotel and restaurant sector to find a job in another sector and where they are often better paid. The differentiated evolution of inflation, which is much more contained in France and Germany than in Belgium and the Netherlands, is mainly due to rising energy prices, it is explained within the CEC.
The Council is therefore concerned about the influence that the divergent evolution of inflation between these different countries will have on the respective evolution of wages. The EAC regularly maps the differences in wage developments between Belgium and its three neighbouring countries.
Ideally, wage costs should generally follow the same trend. If they increase much faster in Belgium than in neighbouring countries, the competitiveness of the economy is in danger of greatly decreasing. And this can have a negative impact on the employment rate.
This comparison by the Central Economic Council also forms the basis for the biannual negotiations between employers and trade unions on a new interprofessional agreement (AIP), which sets the wage standard for the private sector. This determines the extent to which wages can increase in addition to inflation.
The document of this Wednesday, however, was only an interim report and the new wage negotiations between the social partners are not for immediately. In the previous wage negotiations, the report had resulted in a margin of 0.4%, in addition, therefore, to the indexation.