Last year, a record 15.8% of people employed in Belgium were non-nationals, human resources specialist Acerta notes in a report published on Monday.
These workers were mainly from Morocco, France and the Netherlands.
Some sectors continue to be beset by major shortages, and companies that cannot find suitable profiles are turning increasingly to foreign labour to meet their needs.
The numbers have been increasing steadily over the past five years. In 2017, 12.6% of workers in Belgium came from another country. By 2021, the proportion of non-Belgians had reached 14.8%.
After nationals (84.2%), Moroccans (9%) are the largest contingent of foreign workers on the Belgian job market. The French (8.2%) are the second most represented nationality, followed by the Dutch (7.3%). Romanians (7%) and Poles (5.6%) complete the top 5.
The two nationalities that registered the largest increases in 2022 compared to the previous year were Ukrainians (+97.7%) and Afghans (+13.9%). These two groups accounted for 1.3% and 1.7% of workers in Belgium respectively last year.
Most foreigners are active in transport and logistics, sectors in which 25.7% of the workforce are non-Belgians, and the food industry (21.1%).
The hotel and catering services (18.8%) and construction (17.8%) also employ many people from outside Belgium.
Sectors that make significantly less use of non-national workers than the average 15.8% include the non-market sector (11.6%) and the chemical and pharmaceutical industries (8.5%).
In addition to the objective of filling vacancies, “research has repeatedly shown that diversity is beneficial to the atmosphere and creativity in the workplace,” Acerta concluded.
