The number of hours worked by temporary agency workers in Belgium for May increased by 5.8% when compared to the same period last year, according to Federgon, the Belgian Federation of Staffing Agencies.

The increase in May was led by growth in both the blue-collar and white-collar sector. The number of hours worked by temp workers in the blue-collar sector increased by 5.3% in May when compared to the previous year while the white-collar sector posted an increase in 6.7% for the same period.

When compared to April, the number of hours worked by temporary workers in May recorded a slight increase of 0.9%. Both the blue-collar (1.0%) and the white-collar (0.9%) segments reported slight increases.

The Federgon index reached 118.3 points in May 2018 compared with 117.1 points the previous month. This index reports the level of activity in the month under review compared to January 2007 (=100), on a seasonally adjusted basis.

“The Temporary Agency Worker industry delivered an excellent report in May,” Federgon stated. “The year-on-year evolution confirms the growth trend observed in the beginning of the year. We can report growth in both the white collar & blue collar segments & in the three regions.”

The Flanders region saw the number of hours worked by temporary workers increase by 4.3%, while Wallonia recorded a 10.3% growth and Brussels reported a 6.3% increase.