Belgium has slipped 13 places in a world workforce ranking compiled annually by HR company ManpowerGroup. The index measures the attractiveness of labour and labour markets in 64 countries around the world. Belgium now sits near the bottom of the ranking at 55th.
According to the results of the study, the United States has the most attractive labour market, ahead of Singapore, Canada, Ireland, and Australia. Some of the best labour markets in Europe are found in Ireland (4th), Switzerland (13th), Denmark (15th), Finland (16th), and Norway (17th). Only four European countries rank behind Belgium, notably Slovakia (57th), Turkey (58th), Italy (59th), and France (60th).
“Our country is losing its attractiveness and our survey once again highlights the urgency of an in-depth reform of our labour market,” said Sébastien Delfosse, Managing Director of ManpowerGroup BeLux. “Our active population, although highly qualified, is ageing, not flexible enough, and has an employment rate that is still too low.”
The employment rate in Belgium currently stands at 71.6% nationally, however, there is a strong disparity between the regions. Employment figures are brought up by strong employment in Flanders (76.2%), which hides slightly lower figures in Brussels (64.8%) and Wallonia (65%).
“In addition, the introduction of new criteria in our study, such as inflation or the increase in wage costs – in particular via our indexation system – weighs on the competitiveness of our labour market and handicaps Belgium when it comes to decisions and choices by international groups,” Delfosse added.
Indeed, many economists have long worried about the competitiveness of the Belgium economy as a result of Belgium’s unique automatic indexation system, which is popular among workers, but unpopular among some business owners.
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Belgium’s dramatic drop in the rankings is not an isolated case. While the Belgian labour market has experienced significant downward pressure this year, other European labour markets have equally suffered. ManpowerGroup notes that other European partners, such as Germany, France, and Italy have also seen a drop in the attractiveness of their labour markets.
“Other countries such as the United Kingdom, the Nordic countries, or the Netherlands seem to be more resilient to the increased competition in global labour markets in assessing the attractiveness of their workforce,” ManpowerGroup concluded.
