Only around 40% of Belgian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) plan to hire additional staff during the first half of 2025, according to the biannual SME barometer published on Monday by HR services company Acerta, and employer organisations ETION and VKW Limburg.
The percentage of SMEs planning to hire staff has decreased by one percentage point compared to a year ago (44%).
"This indicates a new cooling of the job market. Companies prefer to retain their current employees rather than hire new ones," analysed Annelies Baelus, job market expert at Acerta.
However, the number of SMEs expecting to lay off some of their staff in the next six months has fallen by 8 percentage points compared to May 2024. About 36% of SMEs are considering such layoffs.
Only one third of the surveyed SMEs (33%) remain optimistic about their economic prospects, as reported by the barometer. Six months ago, 35% were optimistic.
Over half of the companies (51%) are neither positive nor negative about their economic outlook.
The main reasons for this increased pessimism are the difficulties in forming a new Federal Government and the anticipated reorganisations in large companies, according to Acerta.
A total of 427 SMEs responded to this edition of the biannual barometer by Acerta, ETION and VKW Limburg.
