“Some vacancies are never filled” In January, nearly 500 full-time jobs were vacant in the car industry. Six months later only half of them were filled, reported on Tuesday (16 August) Agoria, the Belgian federation for the technology industry, and evokes "a structural problem".
"At the opening of the Auto Show, some 30 automotive companies had announced 481 vacant posts in our country, said Agoria in a statement. “It was good jobs in big companies and production, research and development departments as well as positions with subcontractors and suppliers.”
“The companies are looking for different profiles. We find that administrative functions were quickly filled but that companies have enormous difficulties in filling technical positions.”
The federation takes as an example Punch Powertrain, a company based in Saint-Trond and specialized in the manufacture of automatic transmissions. The company had 150 vacancies in January of which only 80 were filled. "The company is growing and seeks 100 additional employees", Agoria remarks.
While stressing the competence of Belgian workers, which enables Belgium to remain "a country renowned in the car sector", Agoria notes that technological positions, from operators to engineers, take twice as long time to fill compared to the normal period of one month for blue-collar positions and three months for management positions.
"A number of vacancies are never filled." The technology industry federation nevertheless hopes that "the increased popularity of technology studies in recent years" will reverse the trend.
The Brussels Times (Source: Belga)
