The number of hours worked by temporary workers in Belgium rose by 7.28% on a seasonally adjusted basis in October when compared to the previous year, according to Federgon, the Belgian Federation of Staffing Agencies.

Federgon states that the increase was due to a sharp rise in the number of hours worked by working students during the autumn season.

When compared to the previous month, the number of hours worked by temporary workers rose by 1.41% on a seasonally adjusted basis.

According to Federgon data, the number of hours worked by blue-collar temporary workers was up by 8.4% while the number of hours worked by white-collar workers increased by 5.95%, when compared to the previous year. On a month-to-month basis, the figure was 1.7% for blue-collar workers and 1.04% for white-collar workers.

The Federgon index reached 265.9 point in October 2016 against 262.2 points in September. 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.