Salaries rise highest amount in three years

The collective bargaining salaries increased by 1.4 percent in 2015, the biggest increase since 2012. In 2014 they increased by only 0.9 percent. The increase was especially significant in the public sector, according to figures released by Statistics Netherlands on Thursday.

By industry, the increase in collectively agreed upon wages was highest in education and water water utilities & waste management with an increase of 2.6 percent. The smallest increases fell for workers in energy supply with 0.8 percent and in financial services with 0.7 percent.

With an increase of 2.3 percent, the wages in the public sector increased more than in the private and subsidized sector, where wages increased by 1.3 and 1.1 percent respectively. According to Statistics Netherlands, this is due to a catch-up effect at the government. Over the last five years, the increase in collective bargaining wages was 4.1 percent, while in both the private and subsidized sectors it was around 6.5 percent.

The collective bargaining wage increases has been above the inflation rate since the third quarter of 2014. Last year the wage increase was more than twice as large as inflation, which was 0.6 percent.