Belgian wage formation since the introduction of the wage norm: a sector analysis of the impact on the wage evolutions in the period 1997-2006.

Since decennia, the macro-economic wage policy has been traditionally based on a two-yearly determined wage limit. This limit indicates the extent to which wages within a two-year period may rise. Many research has focused on the way how this functions in practice. More specific, topics as deviations from this limit because of wage moderation of neighbouring countries and high inflation has been investigated. So the research done has focused on and collected aggregated data on the macro level. However, actors that are responsable for the wage limit and the way it is determined are also of importance. Therefore, the project aims to investigate the wage limit and the wage structure on the level of the industries. More concretely, it will give an answer to research questions such as: -concerning the wage limit: How is indexation implemented in several industries? Is the 'three-stage' dialogue surviving? -concerning the wage structure: how does socio-demographic evolutions affect the wage structure?; how dos the increasing importance of the service sector affects the wage structure? how does the increasing use of performance management affect the wage structure?

Keywords:Collective system, Wage

Disciplines:Sociology of organisations and occupations