The number of hours worked by temporary workers in Belgium increased by 5.6% in December 2014, compared with the same month last year, according to the latest figures from Federgon, the Belgian Federation of Staffing Agencies.

The Belgian staffing market reported year-on-year growth every month during 2014, firmly underscoring the recovery of the country’s temporary labour market. While relatively slow at the start of 2014, with growth 2.9% in January and 0.2% in February, there has been sustained improvement across the industry.

Growth, however, has continued to ease from its year-on-year peak of 12.6% in June and 12% in July. Growth slowed further in November to 4.3%, compared with the same month last year, before rebounding somewhat in December and ending the year on a more positive note.  

The number of hours worked by blue-collar workers increased by 4.7% compared with December 2013, while white-collar temporary workers worked 6.8% more hours.

Compared with November 2014, the number of hours worked by temporary workers rose by 0.3%. Blue-collar workers worked 0.5% more hours, month-on-month, while the number of hours worked by white-collar workers remained relatively static.

The Federgon Index reached 222.7 points in December, up from 222.1 points in November. The index is used as an indicator of the level of activity each month in comparison with the 100 index points in January 1995 when the index was launched.