Job vacancy figures in Belgium in the fourth quarter 2018
Belgian enterprises offered 141,700 job vacancies in the fourth quarter of 2018, compared to 149,200 in the third quarter of 2018, according to the new figures of Statbel, the Belgian statistical office. The job vacancy rate – the number of job vacancies compared to the total number of jobs in the enterprise – has also decreased from 3.65% to 3.44%.
There was a decrease in Flanders and Wallonia, with respectively 5,100 and 2,800 job vacancies less than in the third quarter of 2018. The evolution in Brussels remains stable compared to the third quarter of 2018. The job vacancy rate is higher in Flanders (3.84 %) and in Brussels (+3.33 %) than in Wallonia (2.55%).
Most of the job vacancies were offered by large and medium-sized enterprises (79.6% of the total). The job vacancy rate for these enterprises stands at 3.17%. This figure is substantially lower than the job vacancy rate of 5.17% in enterprises with less than 10 employees.
More than half of the job vacancies (76.3%) can be found in five economic sectors:
- Scientific activities and administrative services (20.7% of the total): 29,300 job vacancies
- Non-profit (20.0%): 28,400 job vacancies
- Wholesale and retail trade (15.0%): 21,200 job vacancies
- Industry (12.8%): 18,100 job vacancies
- Construction (7.8%): 11,100 job vacancies
The following economic sectors have registered the highest job vacancy rate:
- Information and communication (ICT): 6.47%
- Accommodation and food service activities: 6.32%
- Scientific activities and administrative services: 5.60%
- Real estate activities: 5.25%
- Construction: 4.89%
- Transportation: 3.91%
- Wholesale and retail trade: 3.84%
- Industry: 3.15%
The job vacancy rate is declining (third versus fourth quarter 2018) in almost all sectors, especially in construction (-2.35 percentage points). The job vacancy rate has increased in the following sectors: real estate activities (+2.96 percentage points), accommodation and food service activities (-2.04 percentage points) and scientific activities and administrative services (+0.71 percentage point).