Communiqué, issue 2, 2004
Articles
- Less satisfaction with health services in the ACC
- Moderate pay increases across Europe in 2003
- Stable year for industrial relations
- Advisor bids farewell to the Foundation
- 71st Administrative Board meeting
- Promoting EU-level social policy
- Major differences in collectively agreed holidays across Europe
- Increase in number of web users
- Living to work – working to live
Previous issues of Communiqué
The slowdown in average collectively agreed nominal pay increases shows that most EU Member States continue to respect the EU’s broad economic guidelines on pay.
The annual
update from the European
Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO), which examines wage developments in the current EU Member States,
the acceding countries and Norway, reveals a trend towards moderation.
It shows that the average collectively agreed nominal wage increases
across the EU and Norway were 3.5% in 2002, compared to 3.1% in 2003.
Taking account of lower inflation, average real income rose by 0.2% from
2002 to 2003.
In the 10 acceding countries, however, the average nominal pay increases
rose to 8.7% in 2003, up from 8.1% in 2002, while on average real pay
increased by 3.9% in 2003, compared to 2.8% in 2002.
Adding productivity into the equation
Some trade unions take the total of the increase in inflation and productivity –
the distributive margin – as the target for pay rises and other
negotiated improvements in collective bargaining. Comparative data
available for 24 countries over the past two-year period, although
blurred by methodological and statistical difficulties, show that bargaining
outcomes in Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway
and Romania exceeded the distributive margin. The biggest shortfalls
were noted in Greece, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia over the
same period.
‘The EU’s broad economic guidelines on pay, which suggest
that increases in nominal wages should be consistent with price stability
and that increases in real wages should not
exceed
growth
in
labour
productivity, were observed in most EU Member States,’ says Willy
Buschak,
the Foundation’s Acting Director, in response to the findings. ‘The
results of the comparative survey suggest a definite trend towards
wage moderation across Europe.’
Collective bargaining coverage
While more than two-thirds of workers in the EU Member States have their pay and working conditions set by collective agreements, bargaining coverage in the acceding countries is generally lower, averaging about four out of every 10 workers. In the enlarged Europe of 25 countries, approximately two-thirds of the workforce will be covered by collective bargaining.