Half a million Belgian workers to get automatic pay rise on 1 January

Many workers in Belgium will benefit from a 3.5% salary increase next year, it has been announced.

The 3.5% indexation will mainly affect employees in the hotel and catering, international trade, logistics, transport and food sectors.

Wage indexation will apply to numerous joint committees - collective bargaining groups for employee pay and conditions.

These include the CP200, which covers more than 500,000 employees, the CP302, which covers the hotel industry, the CP226 for international trade, the CP118 and CP220 relating to the food industry and the CP140.03, for road transport.

Each employment sector is indexed according to its own system and at a different rate. Some sectors have already benefited from a wage indexation on 1 October (chemicals, small businesses and department stores).

In January 2025, indexation should therefore be higher than last year, when the wage index was only 1.48%. Indexation in the CP200 sector (general employees) is now expected to be around 3.5%.

On average, women employed in Belgium earn 9% less than men. The main reasons are that they do more part-time work or are in sectors that do not pay as well, such as health or care work, creches, the "titres services" system (mainly cleaning) or schools.

Meanwhile, Luxembourg-based European Union statistical office Eurostat has announced that the Belgian workforce is one of the best paid in the EU.

According to the latest figures, in 2023, the average salary for employees in Belgium was €57,989 – the fourth highest in the EU, as it was for 2022 with a 7.9% pay increase seen last year.

Belgium’s neighbour Luxembourg has the highest average salary (€81,064), followed by Denmark (€67,604) and Ireland (€58,679). Bulgaria (€13,503), Hungary (€16,895) and Greece (€17,013) were at the bottom of the table.

The EU figures are based on a combination of national accounts and Labour Force Survey data. They are adjusted by expressing part-time salaries as full-time equivalents.