On Thursday, the human resources consultancy ManpowerGroup unveiled the findings of their survey on the hiring strategies of Belgian companies in the first three months of 2023. Whilst companies expect to hire 23% more staff than they will lay off at the start of 2023, this is a 10% decrease on the previous quarter.
A survey of 510 Belgian employers at the end of October 2022 was designed to gauge how hiring habits are changing. The key findings, unveiled on Thursday, revealed that 41% of respondents planned to increase their workforce over the next three months. Meanwhile, 18% were preparing to reduce their number of employees; 36% of employers expect no change.
After adjusting for seasonal variations, they expect the Net Employment Outlook – the difference between employers' anticipated hires and layoffs – to stand at +23% for the first three months of 2023. This is a significant decrease of 10% from the previous quarter and 11% from the same period in 2022.
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According to Sébastien Delfosse, ManpowerGroup's managing director in Belgium, this can be attributed to "the impact of a possible global recession and the worsening economic situation being felt within the labour market." Yet he gave cautious space for optimism in observing that "the slowdown is not as pronounced as might have been expected."
This is best exemplified by employers in all three of Belgium's regions still expecting to increase their number of hires at the start of 2023. Despite the recent economic turmoil, the Net Employment Outlook stood at +32% for companies in the capital, +19% in Flanders and +18% in Wallonia.
