However, an even larger proportion of the Dutch earn just above the minimum wage: about 20 percent of employees have a wage below 125 percent of the minimum, according to the CPB. They can also benefit indirectly.
According to the CPB, international research shows that a minimum wage increase affects the wages above it. “Different positions are valued with different salaries. If you increase the minimum, the scales above that are often revalued in negotiations,” says Zakaria Boufangacha of trade union FNV.
Postal deliverer Fred Gersteling from Amsterdam would also be happy with that. “It is good that the minimum wage is being increased. But I earn just above the minimum wage and therefore do not benefit from this.” He has been working as a delivery man for 18 years and earns 11.16 euros per hour.
Symbol politics
Despite these direct and indirect increases, employees are not making enough progress, according to the FNV. “Actually, it’s just symbolic politics,” says Boufangacha, who works on the minimum wage for the union. “With the current inflation, people who can barely get by will not notice an increase of 2.5 percent per year.”
The union has long argued for a minimum wage of 14 euros per hour, which is a lot higher than the hourly wage will be after the 7.5 percent increase. “But even that is no longer viable if it continues like this. Maybe we should now start campaigning for 15 euros.”
Gersteling also thinks that the current increase is not enough: “For people with low incomes, who now spend most of their income on energy and food, that makes a huge difference.”
–
