Despite the challenging times a hundred thousand new jobs were created in Belgium in the course of the past year. The figure from the National Bank is a record and the highest number in seven decades. Central bank economist Geert Langenus notes it’s especially during the first half of the year that many new jobs came into existence, especially in services.
In reality the real figure is even more impressive: 100,000 jobs were also lost during the year but if lost jobs and newly created ones are compared there is an excess of 100,000 new jobs. The figure builds on last year’s impressive performance when 90,000 new jobs were created.
Geert Langenus: “Despite the war in Ukraine the economy still performed excellently during the first half of the year”.
Even though economic growth is faltering Langenus doesn’t expect job losses. He points to the tight labour market and says businesses will be reluctant to let staff go.
Labour market expert Jan Denys at agency work firm Randstad says growth was situated in services, in hospitality and shops, in labour intensive sectors, where many hands are needed. Denys believes the greatest growth is being recorded in Flanders, though definite figures are not yet available. The impact on the population’s activity figure is less clear because there has been a big increase in the number of people of working age due to migration.