Salaries under collective agreements show biggest jump in years

In the third quarter of this year collective bargaining wages increased by 2.1 percent compared to the same period last year. That is the biggest increase since 2009, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands. Since the third quarter of 2014 collective bargaining wages increased faster than inflation in the Netherlands. Since the second quarter of last year the gap between inflation and collective bargaining wages increased more and more. The last time the gap between inflation and collective bargaining wage increase was this big, was in 1986. In the third quarter collective bargaining wages increased most in the government sector, with 3.5 percent. The private sector and subsidized sector got 1.9 and 1.1 percent respectively. Government started getting higher increases in the first quarter of last year. According to Statistics Netherlands, this is a catch up after a period of zero increases in this sector. At industry level education got the highest wage increase at 45 percent. Financial services got the lowest at 0.8 percent.