Belgium – Temporary work market down 4.7% in Q1: Federgon

Belgium’s temporary work market reported a 4.7% decrease in demand in the first quarter of 2019 when compared to the previous year, according to the latest report on the labour market from Federgon, the Belgian Federation of Staffing Agencies.

Federgon said the negative trend can be explained by, among...

Germany – Unemployment falls slightly in June

Germany’s unemployment rate fell by 0.1% in June 2019 and stood at 4.9% when compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Federal Employment Agency (BA).

When compared to the previous year, 60,000 fewer people were registered as unemployed.

Unemployment fell by 20,000 from May 2019...

Netherlands – Majority of HR professionals have doubts over ‘Labour Market in Balance Act’

The majority, or 58%, of professionals in the Netherlands within the HR, temporary employment and payroll sectors are against the introduction of the Dutch ‘Labour Market in Balance Act’, according to survey data from Flexmarkt and PW.

The law, which was approved by the Senate in May 2019, will take...

UK – Judge gives split decision on IR35 locum ruling

A UK tax tribunal judge concluded differing outcomes for two engagements undertaken by urologist George Mantides’ limited company, ruling one inside IR 35 rules and the other outside of IR35.

According to court documents, Tribunal Judge Charles Hellier agreed that IR35 applied to an engagement...

Netherlands – ManpowerGroup appoints new Director

ManpowerGroup Netherlands announced that it has appointed Janine Bos as new Director Manpower Netherlands.

She succeeds Peter van Kleij, who was Manpower Director in the Netherlands since September 2018.

Bos previously worked for Randstad Group Netherlands. In recent years she has been director of...

Belgium – Temporary agency workers’ hours down in May: Federgon

The number of hours worked by temporary agency workers in Belgium in May 2019 fell by 8.81% when compared to the previous year, according to Federgon, the Belgian Federation of Staffing Agencies.

The decline was due to the number of hours worked by temporary agency workers in the blue-collar sector decreasing...

World – UK and US gig workers would take less pay for steady work, report says

Gig workers and freelancers would prefer steady employment even if it meant lower pay, according to a report released by the Centre for Economic Performance, a research organisation that is part of the London School of Economics.

The findings are based on a survey of more than 4,000 UK and US workers...

UK – Amazon to create more than 2,000 jobs (City A.M.)

E-commerce giant Amazon will create 2,000 new jobs in the UK this year, bringing its total UK workforce to 29,500, reports City A.M. Amazon said the new positions would include engineers, software developers, data scientists and experts in cloud and machine learning, along with a number of entry-level...

World – StepStone acquires stake in programmatic job advertising provider for €70 million

Berlin-based job board StepStone announced that it acquired an 85% stake in Appcast for approximately €70 million.

StepStone is part of Axel Springer. Staffing Industry Analysts identifies Axel Springer as one of the largest job board operators in the world.

Appcast provides software for increasing...

Europe – Euro area and EU28 unemployment rates fall in May

The euro area (EA19) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood at 7.5% in May 2019, down from 8.3% in May 2018, this is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since July 2008 according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

At the same time, the EU28 unemployment rate stood at...