Slight decrease in the number of job vacancies in Belgium in the 4th quarter 2019

Work & training
Slight decrease in the number of job vacancies in Belgium in the 4th quarter 2019

In the fourth quarter of 2019, Belgian enterprises offered 139,420 job vacancies compared to 140,950 in the third quarter of 2019. The job vacancy rate – the number of job vacancies compared to the total number of jobs in the enterprise – has slightly decreased from 3.44 % to 3.39 %.

 

Flanders saw its number of job vacancies increase by 778, while Brussels and Wallonia registered a decline, with respectively -1,236 and -1,070 fewer job vacancies compared to the third quarter of 2019.

With 69 % of all Belgian job vacancies, Flanders remains the region with the most job vacancies in the country, followed by Wallonia with 19 % and Brussels with 12 %.

The job vacancy rate is logically higher in Flanders (3.85 %) and in Brussels (2.90 %) than in Wallonia (2.56 %).

 

 

 

Type of enterprises and type of jobs

Large and medium-sized enterprises offer 3.57 times more job vacancies than small enterprises. However, the job vacancy rate remains higher in small enterprises (5.39 %) than in large enterprises (3.07 %).

Although more permanent job vacancies are offered (84 %), the job vacancy rate is significantly higher for temporary positions (17 %) than for permanent positions (3 %).

Breakdown by activity sectors (NACE)

More than three quarters of the job vacancies (76.2 %) can be found in five economic sectors: the non-profit sector, the sector of scientific activities and administrative services, of industry, of trade and of construction.

The job vacancy rate mainly decreases in the following sectors: other service activities (-0.50 percentage point) and information and communication (-0.46 percentage point), while it mainly increases in the sectors of accommodation and food service activities (+0.93 percentage point) and of scientific activities and administrative services (+0.61 percentage point).