THE HAGUE, 12/04/07 - Collective labour accord (CAO) pay rises averaged 1.4 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier. This is less than in 2006, when they averaged 2.0 percent, according to the Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS).

Special remuneration contributed a negligible 0.1 percent to the CAO pay rises, compared with the higher figure of 0.4 percent in 2006. This increase was at the time caused by employers having to contribute to the career savings scheme (levensloopregeling) and health insurance costs. These contributions remained about the same in the first quarter this year.

The provisional results are based on 87 percent of the CAOs - these are agreed between employers and unions. In most sectors, CAO pay rises differed little from the average figure of 1.4 percent. The trade sector, which in 2006 was among the sectors with the smallest pay rises, now had the biggest first-quarter increase - of 1.8 percent, followed by energy and water companies.

The smallest first-quarter increase was recorded in public administration, at 0.8 percent. In 2006, this sector saw one of the biggest pay rises due to high growth of special remuneration.

The contractual wage-costs rise for employers increased to 1.5 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier. This makes these costs practically as high as the CAO pay rise.

In 2006, the increase in wage-costs was only half the average CAO pay rise. This was mainly due to lower employer premiums for job disability and pre-pensioning. In the first quarter of 2007, the total of employers premiums was about unchanged.