IMF head Christine Lagarde joins chorus criticizing low wages in Netherlands

The Netherlands' labor market is doing fantastically - unemployment continues to fall, just like unemployment benefits, and vacancies are on the rise. But the wages in the country are lagging behind the economic recovery and that must change, Christine Lagarde, director of the International Monetary Fund, said in Luxembourg on Thursday, Metro reports.

According to Lagarde, wage increases in countries like the Netherlands and Germany are "now very appropriate". The IMF director stressed that countries with a budget surplus, like the Netherlands, should make efforts to boost investment and increase inflation. She also warned that the middle class in the EU countries are getting frustrated, because they are still waiting for the promised wage increases.

Lagarde was in Luxembourg to present the IMF's annual evaluation of the economic situation and prospects in the EU countries to the EU Finance Ministers in the Eurogroup. According to the IMF, the eurozone is clearly in an economic lift and is "driven by domestic demand and job creation". The IMF expects growth for 2017 and 2018.

The IMF is the third institution to raise concerns about low wages in the Netherlands this week. Both the Dutch central bank DNB and Dutch planning office CPB mentioned the too slowly increasing wages in their economic expectations.