The majority of students in Belgium want to work as much as possible alongside their studies. However, to do so, some students are skipping class to earn money instead.
Working alongside studying is increasingly popular in Belgium as student work has expanded considerably and become more flexible in recent years. No fewer than 84% of Belgian pupils and students over the age of 15 surveyed by HR services provider Randstad have a job, most often working at the cash register (12%), as warehouse workers (11%) and at a desk (9%).
The flexibility of student jobs has resulted in just 10% of respondents only working during summer holidays, and barely 7% working exclusively during the school year. More than two-thirds of students now work as job students both during the summer holidays and during the school year, up from just half (51%) three years ago.
However, the latest survey highlights that more and more students and pupils are working during the exam period, the most stressful time of the academic year. Some one in three (32%) job students sometimes work in between sitting exams, up from less than a quarter in 2018, this was polled for the first time. The older a student is, the more likely they are to work during this period.
Besides working during the exam period, some students also occasionally work during class hours, with the majority of students skipping classes to do so (67%). While the number of students in whom this happened frequently did decrease, it still highlights a worrying trend. Randstad revealed another concerning trend: almost half of the job students reported that employers tried to convince them to work during class hours.
600 hours of work
Since the start of 2023, students can work up to 600 hours a year and earn money at reduced social contributions without their parents losing child benefits, up from the previous ceiling of 475 hours. Slightly more than one in three (34%) of students who have done student work in the past year say they have taken advantage of this regulation and thus worked more than 475 hours per year.
Six in 10 students would even like to work more than 600 hours a year, even though combining this much work with studies would likely further interfere with their studies. Already, one in three students surveyed felt that student work harmed their study performance.
Still, ahead of the planned expiry of the rule at the end of this year, students are expressing their interest in an extension. Almost eight in 10 students (77%) think the increase from 475 to 600 hours is necessary.
However, Randstad itself is not a big advocate of the 600-hour measure. "The question arises whether this is desirable, as studies should obviously still be given priority," said Wim Van der Linden, spokesperson at Randstad.
Working to afford education
Socialist trade union BBTK stressed that working 600 hours roughly corresponds to about one-third of a full-time job. "That's not nothing! First and foremost, a student should be able to study."
It argued that, as the labour market has become increasingly flexible, full-time jobs with a decent income are harder to come by for some people. "And as a result, the children of those people have to start working to pay for their studies. It is a vicious circle that we have to break."
Randstad's survey showed that the proportion of students who partly finance their studies with their student jobs has risen from 25% last year to 28% this year. A quarter also says they contribute to the family budget. Around two in five students reported having to work more as a result.
A recent report by the Flemish Education Council (VLOR) highlighted that, for more and more students, it is financially difficult to continue studying. The cost of students became about 20% more expensive over the past three years, while financial allowances for students of low-income households did not increase by the same amount. Meanwhile, tuition fees for higher education surpassed €1,000 for the first time due to inflation. This can explain the rise in student jobs.
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The number of scholarship students who receive discounts on tuition fees increased by 16% between the academic year 2018-2019 and 2022-2023. The BBTK argued that the vicious cycle must be broken by introducing a better framework for the cost of studies, including awarding scholarships faster or increasing the amounts.
"Let us reduce the costs linked to studying so that every student can concentrate on what really counts: their future."
