Brussels, 28 September, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Belgian wage growth beyond automatic indexation has slowed to just 0.89%, while more than 38% of employees received no individual salary increase on top of indexation over the past year, according to the latest Hudson Reward Survey from Randstad.
The findings provide a fresh snapshot of salary conditions in Belgium as employers face restricted room for permanent pay increases and increasingly turn towards bonuses, warrants and other benefits.
Belgian salaries rise 2.93% including indexation
Randstad’s 33rd Hudson Reward Survey analysed more than 375,000 remuneration packages covering more than 400 functions at 1,121 organisations.
Median salaries increased by 2.93% over the past year when automatic indexation was included. Excluding indexation, however, the median individual increase was only 0.89%.
The proportion receiving no additional individual increase has also risen. More than 38% received nothing beyond indexation, compared with 28% in 2025. Only 16% received an increase exceeding 4% on top of indexation, down from 21% a year earlier.
Randstad says room for real pay rises is tight
Wouter Beuckels, Senior Reward Manager and remuneration expert at Randstad, said automatic indexation continued to provide protection against inflation while employers were becoming more cautious about fixed salary costs.
“The automatic indexation protects the purchasing power of Belgian employees against inflation, but we see that the scope for real wage growth is under considerable pressure.”
Beuckels said the 38% receiving no individual increase and the 0.89% figure demonstrated how narrow the margin for additional salary growth had become.
Belgium’s official wage norm reinforces those constraints. The federal government has set the maximum margin for labour-cost increases at 0% for 2025-2026, while automatic indexation and salary-scale increases remain guaranteed.
Employers increase bonuses and alternative benefits
Companies are increasingly using variable forms of remuneration instead of permanently increasing base salaries.
The survey found that 11% of employees now receive warrants or other non-cash benefits, compared with 6% in 2025. Meanwhile, 42% received a collective CAO 90 bonus, five percentage points more than a year earlier.
Meal vouchers have also become more significant. Around 24% of surveyed organisations now provide the maximum €10 daily amount, while another 10% offer between €8 and €10.
Beuckels said:
“Because they are exempt from social contributions and taxes, they are one of the most efficient ways to directly increase employees’ net purchasing power.”
His comments referred specifically to meal vouchers, which the survey found are used across different job levels and company sizes.
Wage figures highlight pressure on Belgian workers
The latest Belgian wage growth figures do not mean workers’ overall salaries increased by only 0.89%. The figure measures the median individual increase excluding automatic indexation, an important distinction in Belgium’s wage system. Including indexation, the survey recorded a 2.93% median rise.
For employees, the findings show that inflation-linked adjustments remain an important part of maintaining purchasing power, while additional permanent salary increases have become considerably harder to obtain.
What happens next for Belgian wages?
The 0% wage norm remains applicable to the 2025-2026 bargaining period. Belgium’s wage-setting system will therefore remain an important constraint on permanent labour-cost increases through the end of the current cycle.
Attention will subsequently shift to the next wage-setting period and the room available for salary negotiations, while employers continue balancing fixed labour costs against bonuses, warrants, meal vouchers and other forms of remuneration.
