Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, publishes today the number of job vacancies in Belgian enterprises. The figures in this press release reflect the situation in the 1st quarter 2021 and so take into account the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the number of job vacancies during this period (see note below). The job vacancy rate – the number of job vacancies compared to the total number of jobs in the enterprise – increases primarily in the sectors ‘Accommodation and food service activities’, ‘Scientific activities and administrative services’ and ‘Construction’. The job vacancy rate for temporary positions remains significantly higher than that of permanent positions.
The total number of job vacancies increases by 22.51%
In the first quarter 2021, Belgian enterprises offered 141,565 job vacancies compared to 115,553 in the fourth quarter 2020, i.e. an increase of 22.51%.
The job vacancy rate – the number of job vacancies compared to the total number of jobs in the enterprise – has also increased from 2.91% to 3.51%.
The number of job vacancies rose in the 3 regions, with an increase of 16,250 job vacancies in Flanders, 7,609 in Wallonia and 2,154 in Brussels compared to the fourth quarter 2020.
With 65% of all job vacancies in Belgium, Flanders remains the region with the largest number of job vacancies, followed by Wallonia with 22% and Brussels with 13%.
The job vacancy rate remains higher in Flanders (3.83%) and in Brussels (3.07%) than in Wallonia (3.03%).
Type of enterprises and type of jobs
There are 3.38 times more job vacancies in large and medium-sized enterprises than in small enterprises. However, the job vacancy rate remains higher in small enterprises (6.10%) than in large and medium-sized enterprises (3.12%).
Although more job vacancies are offered for permanent positions (86.12%), the job vacancy rate is significantly higher for temporary positions (16.51%) than for permanent positions (3.12%).
Breakdown by activity sector (NACE)
More than three quarters (78.9%) of job vacancies can be found in five economic sectors: the non-profit sector, scientific activities and administrative services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade and construction.
The job vacancy rate mainly increases in the sectors ‘Accommodation and food service activities’ (+1.78 percentage points), ‘Scientific activities and administrative services’ (+1.31 points) and ‘Construction’ (+1.23 points). Furthermore, this rate remains the highest in the sector ‘Information and communication’ (7.10%) and the lowest in the sector ‘Financial and insurance activities’ (1.86%).
Note
Due to the closure of many establishments since November 2020 in sectors I and R and in order to correct for the resulting non-response, estimates have been made using administrative data.