The JC 226 indexation in January 2027 falls on 1 January 2027: the minimum salaries and actual salaries of your white-collar staff rise in line with the smoothed health index of December 2026 against December 2025. The percentage is only known once Statbel publishes the December index on 23 December 2026. Below you read how the collective agreement calculates and rounds, where the index stops and how much salaries have risen since 2021.
The percentage of the JC 226 indexation in January 2027
Until then there is no official percentage. The JC 226 page in the database received its last edit after the January 2026 index on 20 January 2026. We found no JC 226 social fund that announces the percentage itself.
Federal Planning Bureau forecast. In its inflation forecasts of 6 October 2026 the Planning Bureau estimates the smoothed health index at 102.92 points in December 2026. That is an estimate of the index, not a percentage for JC 226. 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 226?
The indexation mechanism is in the collective agreement of 12 January 2026 on pay conditions, which applies for an indefinite period. The same formula was already in the committee's previous pay agreements. The calculation:
- Take the smoothed health index of December of the past year.
- Divide it by the smoothed health index of December a year earlier.
- Truncate the result at 5 digits after the decimal point and round it mathematically to 4 digits. That is the coefficient.
So JC 226 compares one month with one month, not an average of two months like JC 200. That is why the percentages of the two committees often differ slightly, even though they index on the same day.
Rounding the salaries. You multiply the amounts of the salary scale by the coefficient, to the third decimal without rounding, and then round to the euro cent: up if the third decimal is 5 or more. The rounded scale is the basis for the next indexation. The same rounding applies to actual salaries.
How far the index goes. Actual salaries rise with it, but only up to the final salary of class 8. The part of a salary above that final salary does not follow the sector index. The amount of that final salary is on our JC 226 pay scale page.
A negative index. If the result of the formula is negative, salaries do not fall. The negative result is offset against the next positive indexation.
Index first. If the indexation coincides with another pay rise at the start of the year, the indexation comes first. White-collar staff who have more favourable indexation terms in their company keep them.
JC 226 indexation history since 2021
This is how JC 226 salaries rose on 1 January in recent years, according to the history in the FPS minimum wage database:
| Indexation on | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 1 January 2026 | 2.23% |
| 1 January 2025 | 3.58% |
| 1 January 2024 | 1.13% |
| 1 January 2023 | 11.19% |
| 1 January 2022 | 3.95% |
| 1 January 2021 | 0.90% |
In January 2023 salaries rose by 11.19%: the index follows the prices of the past year, and those rose sharply in 2022. In January 2024 it was still 1.13%. A past percentage predicts nothing: it only depends on prices up to and including December 2026.
What is already fixed for January 2027, and what is not?
What is already fixed:
- The date: 1 January 2027.
- The formula: smoothed health index of December 2026 divided by that of December 2025, with the rounding of the collective agreement.
- Who gets the rise: the minimum salary scale and actual salaries, up to the final salary of class 8.
- The cents index: January 2027 is the first indexation in JC 226 since 1 June 2026.
What is not fixed yet:
- The percentage. It follows from the December 2026 index, published on 23 December 2026.
- The new amounts of the salary scale and the new final salary of class 8. They follow from the coefficient.
The cents index in the JC 226 indexation of January 2027
January 2027 is the first indexation in JC 226 since the cents index started on 1 June 2026. It applies alongside the limit of the class 8 final salary: the sector limits the index above that final salary, the law limits the first index above the reference wage of 4,000 euros. 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 JC 226 white-collar employee earned € 3,000 gross a month at the end of 2025, below the final salary of class 8. On 1 January 2026 his salary rose by 2.23%, the coefficient 1.0223: 3,000 x 1.0223 = € 3,066.90. In January 2027 you calculate the same way with the new coefficient. If the salary is above the final salary of class 8, you only index up to that final salary.
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 226 page was last edited after the 2026 index on 20 January 2026, with the note that actual wages are limited to the final salary of class 8.
You then also see the new pay scales on our page with the JC 226 pay scale. The committee's standing rules, the pay scales and the bonuses are in our guide to joint committee 226. 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 226 in your payroll administration, together with Acerta, with the percentage that follows from the collective agreement. We apply the coefficient to the salary scale and to the actual salary of each white-collar employee, take the class 8 limit into account and calculate the cents index per employee. All committees that index in January, with their formula, are in our overview of the January 2027 indexation.