Job creation in Flanders at five-year high

Some 42,000 jobs were created in Flanders in the fiscal year from 2016-2017, the biggest growth in jobs seen in five years. The figures were released this week in the annual Dynam-Reg report by Belgian labour market analysts Dynam.

The figure take into account new jobs created, whether by new or existing businesses, as well as jobs that were eliminated. In the year, 136,786 jobs, both full- and part-time, were created and 94,782 jobs were lost. That’s means a net gain of 42,004 jobs.

The figure shows an uphill trend that has been more dependent on jobs created rather than on fewer jobs lost, according to the report.

“The Dynam-Reg figures confirm what we are seeing from other statistics: Our policies over the last few years are beginning to pay off,” said Flemish labour minister Philippe Muyters. “The Flemish labour market and the economy are doing well. Our businesses are creating jobs, the number of start-ups continues to increase and both young people and experiences workers are being given opportunities on the labour market.”

In 2015, the government of Flanders passed a raft of measures to get young, unskilled labourers as well as those older than 55 into the workforce, including the Wij! work-training programme and tax breaks for employers.

Other points that emerged from the report are that people switch jobs much more often than they did 10 years ago, full-time jobs are on the upswing and workers tend to work longer in full-time jobs than they do in part-time jobs.

More new businesses were also created in the 2016-17 year, which runs from July to June – 14,447, a 6.5% increase on the year before and a more than 14% on the year before that.

“We have to try to continue on this positive trend,” said Muyters, “while taking action on the areas that are still problematic.”

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