The number of hours worked by temporary agency workers in Belgium recorded a decrease of 7.60% in February 2024 when compared to the same period a year ago, according to calendar-basis adjusted data from Federgon, the Belgian federation of staffing agencies.

The 7.60% decline was higher than the 5.40% annual decline seen in January. February’s year-on-year fall was a result of a fall in activity of 6.56% in the blue-collar segment, and a lowering of 8.94% in the white-collar segment.

Regional data found that Flanders recorded a 10.23% annual decline with a 13.76% fall in the white-collar segment and a 7.72% decline in the blue-collar segment.

In Wallonia, the decline stood at 2.36%. The white-collar segment saw a fall of 1.06% while the blue-collar segment recorded a downward trend of 3.17%.

In Brussels, February annual figures recorded a 3.78% fall which was driven by a 1.46% downturn in the white-collar segment and a 9.80% decline in the blue-collar segment.

On a monthly basis, the number of hours of temporary work performed decreased by 0.51% (based on figures adjusted for seasonal and calendar influences). This decline can be attributed to a negative trend in both segments: the number of hours worked decreased by 0.12% in the blue-collar segment and by 1.05% in the white-collar segment.

Flanders saw a monthly fall of 1.24% with declines in the white-collar segment (-1.91%) and the blue-collar segment (-0.74%).

Wallonia reported an increase of 1.45% with gains in the white-collar segment (0.99%) and the blue-collar segment (2.27%).

Meanwhile, Brussels saw a marginal fall of 0.72% on a monthly basis. This was despite an increase in the white-collar segment of 2.13%. This increase was offset by a more pronounced fall in the blue-collar segment of 7.65%.