Thousands of workers' wage increases postponed

Hundreds of thousands of employees in the Netherlands will have to wait longer for their expected wage increase this year. Employers are making agreements to postpone salary increases as the coronavirus crisis continues, the Telegraaf reports.

Metal and engineering companies already agreed that their planned 3.5 percent wage increases will be postponed by five months, according to the newspaper. Employers in technical wholesale trade, floriculture and swimming pools are currently negotiating postponement. In total this involves nearly 500 thousand employees.

To partly make up for the disappointment, employers are offering workers extra days off in some cases, according to the Telegraaf.