Around 5% of working Belgian residents – 253,900 people – hold down two jobs, a quarter more (+24.7%) than ten years ago according to an analysis by Acerta published on Wednesday and based on data from the European statistics office Eurostat.
This includes people who are part-time self-employed, employees who combine two part-time jobs, people who combine their main activity with a flexi-job (which allows people with a job or are retired to work unlimited hours on the side without being taxed), as well as others.
"Some people are unwilling or unable to devote themselves full-time to a single job, if the position they hold is physically demanding or does not allow them to express all their creativity," Laura Couchard, legal expert at Acerta Consult, stated in a press release.
"On the other hand, others decide to work in addition to their main job, for example with flexi-jobs, to give themselves a little more financial breathing space, particularly at a time when the cost of living is constantly rising."
The tendency to carry out more than one job is not a European trend with neighbouring countries in fact seeing the reverse effect. This is particularly true in Germany and France, where the number of people working two jobs has fallen by 8% and 19.4% respectively over the last ten years.
The Netherlands has seen a similar increase to Belgium (+24%) but the number of Dutch people holding down a second job remains twice as high as in Belgium, said Acerta.
The HR specialist also found that the biggest increase in people with two jobs is among people older than 65. In 2023 in Belgium, 72,200 people over-65s were working two jobs – which amounts to 5.1% of all working Belgians aged over 65. Today, this figure is 67.6% higher than ten years ago.
