Over the past 10 to 15 years, the salary indexation rate has been less than 2% per year on average, recalls the Human Resources service provider. 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 news seems reassuring because it obviously protects the purchasing power of Belgian employees”, notes the legal adviser of SD Worx, 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.
