Sectors in which wages are indexed once a year, often from January, are heading for an increase of over 10% in January 2023, according to an estimate published on Tuesday by human resources firm SD Worx.
The estimate comes on the heels of the publication, also on Tuesday, of Belgium's inflation figures for August, which reached 9.94%, the highest monthly increase since 1976.
Inflation based on the health index increased, meanwhile, from 9.07% in July to 9.70% in August.
“A forecast does not offer any certainty, but it is already clear that the high inflation of past and coming months will lead to wage indexations of unprecedented speed and magnitude,” SD Worx said in a statement. Over the past 10 to 15 years, the normal indexation rate averaged less than 2% per year, the HR firm noted.
SD Worx estimates the future indexation for the CP200 sector, which has nearly 60,000 companies and 500,000 employees, at 10.03% on 1 January 2023.
[The CP200 (Joint Industrial Committee 200) sector employs mainly white collar workers.]
Indexation should also exceed 10% in the hotel and catering industry (CP 302), food industry (CP 118 and CP 220), third-party road transport (CP 140.03) and international trade, transport and logistics (CP 226).
In sectors where wages are adjusted whenever the pivotal index is exceeded, indexations occur in quick succession. So, the wages of workers in the health sector (hospitals, nursing homes, etc.), for example, will probably be indexed five times by 2% this year.
