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 February 2012 the coverage rate (share of national collective agreements in force for the wage setting aspects) was 67.4 per cent in terms of employees and 61.8 per cent in terms of the total amount of wages.

In February 2012 both the hourly wage index and the per employee index were unchanged compared to the previous month. Compared with February 2011 both the hourly wage index and the per employee index increased by 1.4 per cent. During the period January-February 2012 both indices increased by 1.4 compared to the same period of the previous year.