Pay developments – 2010

EIRO’s annual analysis of pay trends for 2010 finds that average collectively agreed nominal wage increases were lower than in 2009 in almost all 13 countries with available data, with Malta being the exception. The highest reductions in nominal pay increases were in Slovakia (5.5% in 2009 to 2.2% in 2010), Austria (3.4% to 1.6%), the Netherlands (2.7% to 1%) and Belgium (2.5% to 1%). Taking into account inflation, 2010 marked a turning point in many countries as collectively agreed pay did not compensate for price developments. Real increases in collectively agreed pay were negative in the UK (-1.5%), Belgium (-1.3%) and Austria (-0.1%), and only moderate increases were recorded in the Czech Republic (1.9%), Slovakia (1.5%) and Portugal (1%). The report also examines collectively agreed pay increases in three selected sectors (metal, banking and local governments), developments on minimum wages and youth pay rates, and gender issues in collective pay setting.