Wage indexation

Wage indexation is the automatic adjustment of Belgian wages to the rising cost of living, based on the health index. Unique in Europe: the mechanism is bindingly arranged per joint committee, each with its own timing and formula.

How does the mechanism work?

The basis is the health index (consumer prices excluding tobacco, alcohol and motor fuels). Each joint committee has its own system: JC 200 indexes once a year in January with the past year's percentage; many industrial committees use fixed moments or a pivot index that must be crossed. You don't have to do anything: the adjustment appears automatically on your payslip.

What does it mean for you?

Your purchasing power is structurally protected without negotiation: in high-inflation years wages rose automatically by many percent. Important for pay negotiations: the index is not a raise. If you agree an increase, it comes on top of indexation. Never let an employer sell indexation as a pay rise.

Indexation and your new contract

If you sign a contract in November, your pay may already index along in January (depending on your JC). Take that into account when negotiating salary, and the ranges in our vacancies are current gross amounts that evolve with the index.