The Central Business Council, a consultative body grouping Belgium’s social partners, has announced the maximum available margin for wage increases in the private sector for this year and next: the figure is 0 percent. This means that wages cannot rise more than the retail price index. The margin was also 0 percent for the past two years.
The council estimates Belgium’s labour cost handicap - the difference in hourly wage costs in Belgium versus that of our neighbouring countries - at 1 percent. That means that in 2024, since 1996, Belgian wages rose one percent faster than in neighbouring economies. In 2023, that handicap stood at 2.7 percent.
The wage margin report marks the start of wage negotiations. Unions and employers will negotiate not only wages, but also a variety of schemes.
To be clear, wages may still rise in line with inflation. Belgium’s automatic wage and benefit indexation guarantees that wages rise along with inflation. The new government is also guaranteeing this principle.