Eurofound publishes its annual ‘Developments in collectively agreed pay’ report

Collectively agreed nominal pay outcomes in 2014 break with the past

Collectively agreed nominal pay is the same or lower in almost all of the countries surveyed in 2014 compared to 2013, according to new research from Eurofound. However, lower inflation during the same period resulted in increases in real collectively agreed pay, confirming the return of growth in real terms which had begun in 2013. Eurofound’s report Developments in collectively agreed pay 2014 provides insights into collective wage bargaining outcomes in Europe.

This report describes the developments in collectively agreed pay in the EU Member States in 2014 and compares them to developments in previous years, providing an overview of developments since 1999.

It also provides details about pay indexation mechanisms, central or major cross-sector agreements and pace-setting agreements that were in effect in 2014, and a summary of public sector wage developments. Eurofound has reported on developments in collectively agreed pay across Europe on an ongoing basis for almost two decades.

Fourteen countries have information resources enabling nationwide estimation of collectively agreed pay change. In eight of the 14 countries covered in the report, the 2014 nominal increases were lower than in 2013. Four countries saw similar increases in both years. Germany and the UK were the only countries reporting a considerably higher increase in 2014 than in 2013, with wage increases growing by 0.4 percentage points and 0.5 points respectively. In many countries, the nominal increases after 2010 tend to be lower than in the previous period. For the period between 2012 and 2014, the collectively agreed wage increases tend to get smaller in 10 out of the 14 countries.

In real terms, 12 countries reported positive real wage increases in 2014. Finland was the only country where collectively agreed pay growth did not keep up with the growth of prices.

EurWORK’s ‘Collective wage bargaining portal’ provides more data on collectively agreed pay in six sectors (metalworking, chemical industries, retail, banking, central public administration and local government).

Read the full report.

More information about pay developments in Europe can be found here:

• Changes to wage-setting mechanisms in the context of the crisis and the EU’s new economic governance regime 
• EurWORK topical update on minimum wage developments in 2015
• Pay in Europe in the 21st century

For further information, contact:

• Måns Mårtensson, Media Manager, on email: mma@eurofound.europa.eu, telephone: +353-1-204 3124, or mobile: +353-876-593 507.
• Karel Fric, Research Officer, on email: kfr@eurofound.europa.eu, and telephone: +353-1-204 3233