Collectively negotiated wage rates up 1.3 percent in 2010

Wage rates negotiated under collective labour agreements (cao’s) were 1.3 percent higher in 2010 than in the previous year. This increase is significantly smaller than in 2009, when wages rose by 2.8 percent. The wage increase in the collective sector was substantially larger than in the private sector in 2010.

Contractual wage costs 1.5 percent up

Contractual wage costs rose by 1.5 percent in 2010. The increase in wage costs is slightly larger than that of collectively agreed wages as a result of higher employer-paid contributions for the ‘sector funds’ and health care insurance.

Collectively agreed wage rates and contractual wage costs

Wage increase in 2010 equals inflation

The increase in collectively agreed wage rates in 2010, 1.3 percent,  was the same as inflation. In the first half of 2010 the wage increase was higher than inflation, but in the second half of the year, inflation started to rise more quickly, while wages rises slowed down. It was the first time this pattern re-emerged since 2005. In the fourth quarter of 2010 the increase in collectively agreed wages was even 0.4 of a percent point lower than inflation. In the last ten years, the increase in collectively agreed wage rates was 0.4 of a percent point higher on average than inflation.

If collectively agreed wages rise by less than inflation, the purchasing power of employees will not necessarily immediately be reduced. Net wages are also affected by changes in employee-paid premiums for pension, social insurance, and by wage tax rates.

Collectively agreed wage rates and inflation

Largest wage rise in health and welfare

Collectively agreed wages rose by most in health and welfare, by 2.3 percent, in spite of the modest wage increase set down in the collective labour agreement for nursing homes, care homes and home care. The above average increase is mainly the result of the introduction of a personal life-stage related budget in this sector in 2010, and a higher end-of-year bonus. 

As a result the subsidised sector has the highest wage rise of all cao sectors, at 2.0 percent. It is followed by the government sector, with 1.8 percent. In the largest cao sector, private companies, collectively agreed wage rates rose by 1.0 percent, the smallest increase. Within this sector, wages in trade rose by least: 0.7 percent.

Collectively agreed wage increase by sector

 
Monique Hartog