According to SD Worx, which calculates more than a third of private sector salaries in Belgium, sectors such as Joint Commission 200 (employees), Horeca and agri-food should experience an indexation of 8% from January 1, 2023. , in addition to an indexation of more than 3% at the start of 2022.
This increase concerns the few 480,000 employees and managers of 50,000 companies which come under the Joint Committee 200. This is not a bonus, but an adjustment of the salary to the rise in consumer prices. For employers, automatic indexation translates into higher wage costs.
“This news seems reassuring because it obviously protects the purchasing power of Belgian employees,” notes SD Worx’s legal adviser, Jean-Luc Vannieuwenhuyse. “But on the other hand, there will also be a sharp increase in labor costs, with negative consequences for the competitiveness of Belgian companies. »
Other sectors such as construction workers and health establishments and services are experiencing multiple indexations which, added together, would also exceed 8% for 2022 alone (8.12%).
Automatic indexation in Belgium is a mechanism that allows salaries to be adjusted according to the cost of living. For 2022, the National Bank expects an inflation rate of 7.4%. Inflation of 8.31% for March is the highest observed for forty years (March 1983: 8.92%). The federal government confirmed at the end of March the maintenance of the automatic indexation of wages and allowances.