The JC 302 indexation in January 2027 falls on 1 January 2027: the fixed minimum wages and the actual wages in hospitality rise in line with the four-month average of the health index of November 2026 against November 2025. Because hospitality works with November, the percentage can already be calculated once Statbel publishes the November index on 27 November 2026, well over a month before the January payslip. Below you read how the collective agreement calculates and rounds, what happens to flexi-job wages and how much wages have risen in recent years.
The percentage of the JC 302 indexation in January 2027
Until then there is no official percentage. In the JC 302 history in the database, the entry for January 2026 was last edited on 20 January 2026. The Guarantee and Social Fund for Hospitality does not publish the percentage; we only found it with FPS Employment.
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. That is an estimate of the index, not a percentage for JC 302. 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 302?
The rule is in the collective agreement of 23 October 2007 on linking pay to the index figure, which applies for an indefinite period. Once a year, on 1 January, you adjust the fixed minimum wages and the actual wages:
- Take the four-month average of the health index of November of the past year.
- Divide it by the same average of November a year earlier.
- The quotient has 5 decimals. If the sixth decimal is 5 or more, you round up.
Statbel publishes the four-month average every month as the smoothed health index. According to the Federal Planning Bureau, that is the moving average of four months, times 0.98. For the change from November to November, that factor makes no difference.
Rounding the wages. You round an indexed hourly wage to 4 decimals after the decimal point. You round a monthly wage to the euro cent: up if the third decimal is 5 or more.
Which wages rise? The collective agreement applies to employees with a fixed hourly or monthly wage. Their minimum wage and their actual wage rise by the same percentage. If you pay above the pay scale, you therefore also index that higher wage. The collective agreement says nothing separate about variable pay.
Flexi-job wages follow their own rule. The flexi-job wage does not fall under this January index. The FPS database history shows separate steps of 2% for flexi-job wages on other dates, such as in March and September 2026. What a flexi-job costs you is in our guide to flexi-jobs in hospitality.
Students receive a percentage of the pay scale according to their age. If the pay scale rises in January, their wage rises with it.
JC 302 indexation history since 2023
This is how hospitality wages rose on 1 January in recent years, according to the history in the FPS minimum wage database. The sector publishes the percentage to three decimals.
| Indexation on | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 1 January 2026 | 2.19% |
| 1 January 2025 | 3.57% |
| 1 January 2024 | 1.83% |
| 1 January 2023 | 10.96% |
In January 2023 hospitality wages rose by 10.96%: the index follows the prices of the past year, and those rose sharply in 2022. In January 2026 it was 2.19%. A past percentage predicts nothing: it only depends on prices up to and including November 2026.
What is already fixed for January 2027, and what is not?
What is already fixed:
- The date: 1 January 2027.
- The formula: the four-month average of the health index of November 2026 divided by that of November 2025.
- Who gets the rise: the fixed minimum wages and the actual wages, also above the pay scale.
- The cents index: January 2027 is the first indexation in JC 302 since 1 June 2026.
What is not fixed yet:
- The percentage. It follows from the November 2026 index, published on 27 November 2026.
- The new minimum hourly and monthly wages per category. They follow from the quotient and then appear in the minimum wage database.
The cents index in the JC 302 indexation of January 2027
January 2027 is the first indexation in JC 302 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 cook earned € 16.0000 an hour at the end of 2025. On 1 January 2026 his hourly wage rose by 2.19%, the quotient 1.02189: 16 x 1.02189 = € 16.3502 an hour, rounded to four decimals. In January 2027 you calculate the same way with the new quotient.
Where do you find the percentage for January 2027?
You find the percentage and the new amounts in these places:
- Statbel publishes the November 2026 index figure on 27 November 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 entry for January 2026 was last edited on 20 January 2026.
You then also see the new pay scales on our page with the JC 302 pay scale. The committee's standing rules, the pay scales and the bonuses are in our guide to joint committee 302. 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 302 in your payroll administration, together with Acerta, with the percentage that follows from the collective agreement. We apply the quotient to the hourly or monthly wage of each employee, keep flexi-job and student wages separate 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.