Belgium’s Federal Planning Office forecasts the creation of 240,000 jobs by 2023 in its 2018-2023 Economic Prospects Report, according to Le Soir . The Office forecasts 40,000 new jobs per year over the next six years, despite anemic GDP growth, the daily reported.
Barring a policy change, the 240,000 jobs will be created between 2018 and 2023. “The number of private sector employees should rise by 176,000 units, contractors by 54,000 and public servants by 10,000”, the report stated. “This increase is justified by the job-support measures, but also by the ageing of the population, which frees up many posts and the positive migratory balance.
The average of 40,000 new jobs per year is on the higher side from a historical point of view, given a rather weak GDP growth, averaging 1.4% in the last years of the 2018-2023 period.
According to the Planning Office’s forecasts, GDP growth will slow down to 1.3% by 2023. “I think we can forget the 1.8% - 2% norm we’ve known in general,” said Philippe Ledent, an economist at ING. “It’s clear we won’t attain the [budgetary] balance.”
“A good part of our structural deficit is linked to the impact of the ageing of the population on public finances”, Ledent added.
The Brussels Times
