The number of hours worked by temporary agency workers in Belgium decreased by 9.11% in April 2023 when compared to the same period a year ago, according to calendar-basis adjusted data from Federgon, the Belgian federation of staffing agencies.

The 13.02% decrease was driven by a fall in activity of 12.18% in the blue-collar segment and by a decrease of 5.10% in the white-collar segment.

By region, the Flanders region reported a decrease of 10.55% over the year. Wallonia fell by 8.43% while Brussels reported a slight decline of 0.11%.

On a monthly basis, Federgon’s data showed that in April 2023, the number of hours worked for temporary agency work increased by 0.49% compared to the previous month. This increase is due to an improvement in the number of hours worked in the blue-collar segment by 0.02% and in the white-collar segment by 0.52%.

By region, Flanders reported an increase of 0.87% while Brussels also saw an increase of 0.83%. On the other hand, Wallonia reported a fall of 1.13% over the previous month.

“In April, the agency work activities show a positive evolution compared to last month,” Paul Verschueren, director research & economic affairs, said. “On a yearly basis we still observe a weakening in all regions and both the blue-and white-collar segments.”