Job occupation in Belgian businesses has risen for the fourth consecutive year. Despite a slight deceleration compared to last year, the number of working individuals in Belgium at the end of 2023 was 6.6% higher than in 2019, reveals human resources firm Acerta.
Acerta tracks a fixed set of 21,000 employers and their workforce year on year. By the end of December 2023, these employers reported an average occupation growth of 6.6% since 2019. Following the dip due to the coronavirus in 2020, an initial peak trend was reported with a rise of 4.6% in 2021. Its growth persisted but at a steadier pace of 1.8 % in 2022 and 1.6% from the end of 2022 to the end of 2023.
“Job occupation plays a crucial role socially and economically,” says Benoit Caufriez, Director at Acerta Consult. “Numerous indicators, like occupation figures, suggest a positive trend towards the national employment rate goal of 80%. Steunpunt Werk (which analyses the labour market in Flanders) previously reported a 72% employment rate in Belgium for the third quarter of 2023.”
Job occupation is higher today than four years ago across all sectors and businesses with up to 1,000 employees, with the exception of the metallurgy and manufacturing industry. Businesses in this sector saw a minor drop of -1.1% over the past year, and an overall decrease of -9.4% compared to five years ago.
