Collectively agreed wages are 5 percent higher in the first quarter of 2023 than a year earlier. That is the largest increase in forty years, it reports Statistics Netherlands (CBS). That increase is almost twice as high as last year, when collectively agreed wages increased by 2.7 percent in the first quarter.
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Collectively agreed wages increased the most in the hotel and catering industry, by 8 percent. A year ago, this sector had one of the lowest wage increases (0.3 percent). Wages rose the least in the ‘renting and trading of real estate’ sector.
However, this increase does not mean that the difference with inflation has been bridged, because it rose faster than collectively agreed wages. Inflation for the first quarter will be announced next week, but based on provisional CBS figures, collectively negotiated wages will decrease by 1.5 percent after inflation.
That is still less than for the whole of 2022, when collectively agreed wages also increased in absolute terms, but fell by about 6 percent after adjusting for inflation. Such a large difference between collective labor agreement wage increases and inflation development has not occurred since Statistics Netherlands kept track.
Tougher negotiations
Since 2022, collectively agreed wages have been increasing in larger steps, in order to compensate for the loss of purchasing power that has arisen because inflation also increased in that period. According to employers’ association AWVN, collective bargaining has become “tougher” lately, with unions striking or threatening to strike. Protest actions are currently mainly carried out by people covered by government collective agreements, such as hospital staff, bus drivers or municipal officials.
About 80 percent of Dutch employees are covered by a collective labor agreement. Their salary can increase through collective bargaining increases or through individual negotiations.