The JC 200 indexation in January 2027 falls on 1 January 2027: the minimum wages and the wages you actually pay rise in line with the smoothed health index. The collective agreement compares the average of November and December 2026 with that of November and December 2025. So the percentage is only known once Statbel publishes the December index figure on 23 December 2026. Below you read how the calculation works, how much wages have risen since 2021 and what is already fixed.
The percentage of the JC 200 indexation in January 2027
Until then there is no official percentage. Figures already going around are estimates. The JC 200 page in the FPS Employment minimum wage database received its last edit after the January 2026 index on 19 January 2026. Social Fund 200 announces the percentage on its own website, together with the coefficient by which you multiply the wages.
Federal Planning Bureau forecast. In its inflation forecasts of 6 October 2026 the Planning Bureau estimates the smoothed health index at 102.35 points in November 2026 and 102.92 points in December 2026. That is an estimate of the index, not a percentage for JC 200. The Planning Bureau does not calculate a sector percentage, and neither do we: the percentage only follows from Statbel's final figures. The next forecasts are published on 3 November 2026.
How does the indexation work in JC 200?
The rule is in the collective agreement of 9 June 2016 on linking wages to the smoothed health index. It applies for an indefinite period. Every year on 1 January you adjust wages with this calculation:
- Add up the smoothed health index of November and December of the past year and divide by two.
- Do the same for November and December of the year before.
- Divide the first result by the second. That is the coefficient. Minus 1, times 100, gives the percentage.
For January 2027 that means: the average of November and December 2026 against that of November and December 2025. Statbel publishes the smoothed health index every month. The collective agreement sets no rounding for the percentage or the wages.
Which wages rise? The index applies to the minimum wages of the sector pay scales, to the wages you actually pay and to the guaranteed average minimum monthly income. If you pay above the pay scale, that higher wage rises by the same percentage. If a white-collar employee has partly variable pay, you only index the fixed part, whatever the amount.
Index first, then a rise. If the indexation coincides with another pay rise at the start of the year, you first apply the indexation and then the rise.
The system for your blue-collar workers. The collective agreement also allows you to let your white-collar staff's wages move with the indexation system you apply to the blue-collar workers in your company. If you do, the January date on this page does not apply to your white-collar staff.
JC 200 indexation history since 2021
This is how JC 200 wages rose on 1 January in recent years, according to the history in the FPS minimum wage database:
| Indexation on | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 1 January 2026 | 2.21% |
| 1 January 2025 | 3.58% |
| 1 January 2024 | 1.48% |
| 1 January 2023 | 11.08% |
| 1 January 2022 | 3.58% |
| 1 January 2021 | 0.95% |
The jump of 11.08% in January 2023 reflects the price rises of 2022: the index follows the prices of the past year. After that the index fell back, to 1.48% in 2024. The percentages of January 2025 and 2026 were 3.58% and 2.21%. A past percentage says nothing about January 2027: it only depends on prices in November and December 2026.
What is already fixed for January 2027, and what is not?
What is already fixed:
- The date: 1 January 2027.
- The formula: November and December 2026 against November and December 2025, on the smoothed health index.
- Who gets the rise: the minimum wages, the actual wages and the fixed part of mixed pay.
- The cents index: January 2027 is the first indexation in JC 200 since 1 June 2026. More on that below.
What is not fixed yet:
- The percentage. It only follows from the December 2026 index, published on 23 December 2026.
- The new amounts of pay scales I and II. The sector calculates them with the percentage, and FPS Employment then publishes them in the minimum wage database.
The cents index in the JC 200 indexation of January 2027
January 2027 is the first indexation in JC 200 since the cents index started on 1 June 2026. For a full-time reference wage above € 4,000 gross a month, the first 2% of indexation only counts on € 4,000. Anyone earning € 4,000 or less gets the full index.
- If the percentage is 2% or more, someone with a reference wage of € 4,500 gets € 80 (4,000 x 2%) on that first 2% instead of € 90. The part of the index above 2% applies to the full wage again.
- If the percentage is below 2%, the whole January index only applies to € 4,000, and the moderation continues until the indexations together reach 2%.
Meanwhile you pay a special wage moderation contribution to the NSSO. How to calculate it, with a full example, is in our piece on the cents index.
Worked example: how the January 2026 index worked
A white-collar employee earned € 3,000 gross a month at the end of 2025. On 1 January 2026 that rose by 2.21%, the coefficient 1.0221: 3,000 x 1.0221 = € 3,066.30. In January 2027 you calculate the same way with the new coefficient. If the wage is above € 4,000, you also take the cents index into account.
Where do you find the percentage for January 2027?
You find the percentage and the new amounts in these places:
- Statbel publishes the December 2026 index figure on 23 December 2026. With it, the formula of the collective agreement can be filled in completely.
- FPS Employment puts the percentage and the new amounts in the minimum wage database. The JC 200 page was last edited after the 2026 index on 19 January 2026.
- Social Fund 200 puts the percentage and the coefficient on its website, as in 2026.
You then also see the new pay scales on our page with the JC 200 pay scale. The committee's standing rules, the pay scales and the bonuses are in our guide to joint committee 200. What a pay rise yields net for your employee is in our guide gross to net. How the 2026 index turned out per sector is in our news on wage indexation in 2026.
What Business Centrum does for you
Business Centrum applies the January 2027 indexation in JC 200 in your payroll administration, together with Acerta, with the percentage that follows from the collective agreement. We apply the coefficient to the pay scale and to the actual wage of each white-collar employee, calculate the cents index per employee and give you an estimate of your 2027 payroll cost in December. All committees that index in January, with their formula, are in our overview of the January 2027 indexation.