The number of hours worked by temporary workers in Belgium rose by 11.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis in April when compared to the previous year, according to Federgon, the Belgian Federation of Staffing Agencies.

The 11.8% figure comes from a rise in both the blue-collar segment, which saw a yearly increase of 13.47%, and the white-collar segment, which saw a 9.62% increase compared to last year.

On a monthly basis, the number of hours worked by temporary workers increased by 3.56% in April. Meanwhile, blue-collar worker hours increased by 3.85% and white-collar worker hours increased by 3.16%, when compared to the previous year.

The Federgon index reached 278.4 points in April compared to 268.9 points in March. This index reflects the level of activity in the month studied compared to the base month of January 1995 (= 100 points), on a seasonally adjusted basis.