The number of working hours performed by temporary agency workers in Belgium has almost doubled in twenty years, from 116.3 million hours in 1998 to 227.6 million hours in 2018, the highest level ever reported, reports MSN.com citing data from the Central Prevention Service for the Temporary Employment Sector, Prevention and Interim (or ‘PI VZW’) whose mission is to reduce the number of accidents at work occurred by temporary workers and also to protect their health.

Marijke Bruyninckx, Director, Prevention and Interim, stated that if there are fewer work-related accidents, temporary workers are also more available to work, which leads to more hours worked, but added that this does not explain everything about the increase. In Belgium, temporary work is becoming more attractive, according to Bruyninckx, who also sees the demand for temporary agency workers increasing in the future. "Working more flexibly is becoming the norm: more people no longer live in the typical nine-to-five working environment and prefer not to commit to one employer too much,” Bruyninckx said.  A job as temporary employee fits perfectly within that framework, and so the expectation is that temporary agency work in Belgium will grow significantly in the coming years.” According to the latest data from Federgon, the number of hours worked by temporary agency workers in Belgium in October decreased by 1.15% when compared to the same period last year.