Belgium’s National Employment Office, ONEM, paid 240,415 interruption benefits in July, mainly for time-credit schemes and parental leave, down 2.6% from the corresponding month last year.
The decline affected every category, the office said on Thursday.
Time-credit payments fell by 3.5%, thematic leave, including parental leave, dropped by 1.7%, and career breaks in the public sector were down 4.3%.
Women continued to make up the majority of those interrupting their professional activity. In July, 138,292 beneficiaries were women, accounting for 57.5% of the total, compared with 102,123 men.
Most claimants chose to reduce their working time by one fifth, with 146,531 such cases recorded. That arrangement accounted for 60.9% of all interruption benefits.
