Contractual wages and salaries

The index of wages according to collective labour agreements measures the evolution of wages and salaries (per employee or per hour) determined by contractual provisions set by collective agreements; the indices are calculated with reference to the fixed employment structure of the base period (December 2005).

At the end of July 2012 the coverage rate (share of national collective agreements in force for the wage setting aspects) was 70.3 per cent in terms of employees and 66.6 per cent in terms of the total amount of wages.

In July 2012, compared to the previous month, the hourly wage index was unchanged, while the per employee index increased by 0.1 per cent. Compared with July 2011, the hourly wage index increased by 1.5 per cent and the per employee index increased by 1.6 per cent. During the period January-July 2012 the hourly wage index increased by 1.4 per cent and the per employee index increased by 1.5 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year.