Survey shows pay deals steady across Europe

Leading pay settlements across Europe averaged 3.2% during 2002 according to a survey by the Labour Research Department's Bargaining Report magazine.

The survey covered 50 industry, company and minimum wage agreements in 12 of the 15 European Union states. It found that the midpoint of deals for 2002 at 3.2% was almost the same as the 3.25% recorded in a similar survey at the end of 2001.

Average inflation across Europe was also stable dropping slightly from 2.2% in October 2001 to 2.1% in October 2002. However, this disguised some divergence in inflation with prices in Spain and Ireland rising more rapidly while inflation in Germany and Austria was lower than the previous year.

Higher pay increases were evident in the Netherlands. Increases of 4.0% or more in the minimum wage and in deals covering construction and homecare workers were needed to keep pace with inflation. In Greece the minimum wage rose by 5.4% with 1.1% needed to catch up with higher than expected inflation. Higher deals in east Germany were part of a long-term move to bring pay up to west German levels.

French agreements were among the lower settlements because of the continuing impact of the move to a 35-hour week.

Bargaining Report 233, December 2002, £3.50, from LRD, tel: 020 7928 3649.