The National Bank of Belgium has announced that 100,000 new jobs were created in 2022, a record number in the previous 70 years. The record increase has been attributed to the Belgian economy's strong recovery following the pandemic in the first half of this year, especially within the services sector.
On Monday, the National Bank of Belgium released its forecast for the month of December, which showed that 100,000 new jobs were created in 2022. Not only is this an increase on last year's figure of 90,000, but it also represented the highest number of new jobs created in 70 years.
Geert Langenus, an economist at the National Bank of Belgium, attributed this record number to Belgium's strong economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in the first half of 2022.
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Furthermore, Flemish outlet De Standaard explained that governmental measures during the pandemic such as the temporary unemployment scheme, as well subsequent support measures, resulted in a quick rise of new jobs.
Both Langenus and De Standaard also put the rise to increased demand on the services sector, which resulted in job growth due to the industry's labour-intensive nature.
However, the increase in new jobs is not expected to continue into 2023, with the structural effects of the energy crisis expected to be felt by the country's labour market.
