Temp work back in vogue after two hard years

The call for temporary workers picked up again in 2014 after two difficult years, allowing the industry to look forward this year to a return to levels similar to 2007, before the global economic crisis, according to industry federation Federgon.

Last year saw an increase of 9% in requests for temp staff in Belgium, for a total of just over 177 million hours billed. The increase is attributed to economic growth and the employment of more than 200,000 job-students and more people over 55 than ever before.

The sector employed 34,245 over-55s, who together accounted for 9.3% of total temp employment. Another 55,294 over-45s accounted for 15% of the total.

Sectors that saw the most growth include construction, despite falling levels of employment overall in the sector. Requests for temp services in management functions were up by 8.6%.

The use of services cheques continued its downward trend, with a fall of 0.9%, although the number of clients using the medium was up 2.6% and the number of people employed was up by 0.9%. The explanation, according to Federgon, is that more people are employing home help but for fewer hours.

Photo by bfs/Het Nieuwsblad