Vooruit Proposes Significant Increase in Minimum Wage to Boost Employment: A Look at the Impact

On the evening of May 1, Labor Day, the socialists gather as usual to celebrate their senior day. During that meeting in the port of Ghent, Melissa Depraetere encouraged her troops again before the election. Vooruit’s presidential speech on May 1 also contained a surprising proposal to increase the minimum wage by at least 500 euros. Today the minimum wage in Belgium is around 13 euros an hour. If it is up to the Socialists, that amount should be increased to 15 euros an hour after the elections. This means an increase from around 2,000 euros to 2,500 euros per month.

“Everyone who goes to work every day deserves a living wage,” said Depraetere. But the chairman is mainly marketing the minimum wage increase as an instrument to increase the difference between working and not working. “With a higher minimum wage, a lot more people want to work,” he says.

“Everyone who goes to work every day deserves a living wage. With a higher minimum wage, many more people will want to work.”

Melissa passes by

Vooruit President

One step forward

Earlier in the election campaign, the French socialists already launched a similar proposal. The PS even goes a step further than Vooruit. Chairman Paul Magnette aims to increase it to 2,800 euros per month, or 17 euros per hour. That proposal was then supported by the business world. They fear that a salary increase will appear on their account. “If the intention is to increase people’s net income, this must be done through tax reforms and a more efficient public company,” the Federation of Belgian Enterprises (VBO) responded to PS’s plans at the time.

Vooruit’s proposal is part of a wider package of measures to protect purchasing power. Depraetere also wants to get involved in customary wage law. This will determine how much wage costs may increase. “We need to allow unions to negotiate seriously again for higher wages,” said Depraetere. “If a profit is made, the people who do the work should benefit from it.” In addition, Vooruit also wants to maintain an automatic wage index.