Friday, July 4, 2008

Belgium: Construction trade and skilled labour jobs






The Lotto Sports Arena, Antwerp, a 7,500 capacity sport and concert venue built in 2007





Ageing workforce presents recruitment challenge

Belgium is divided in to three regions:

The Dutch speaking region of Flanders or Flemish region in the north;

The French speaking southern region of Wallonia in the south and;

Brussels, the capital region, in the centre, which is predominantly French speaking

Unemployment rates vary considerably between the regions. Brussels was 19% at the end of May, 2007, Wallonia 13% and Flanders only 5.6%. Flanders accounts for about 60 % of the Belgian economy and 60 per cent of the Belgian construction industry.

Employment challenge
Due to an ageing population, particularly in Flanders, a major challenge for the Flemish construction sector is that of replacing workforce. 46% of the construction workforce is now 40 years and older.
Nationally the Belgian construction industry needs an annual skilled workforce intake of about 17,000 new workers to replace those who leave each year. In the next few years, this will increase as a larger number move towards retirement than ever was the case in the past.

Bottleneck vacancies
VDAB is the Flanders public employment service, and each year it compiles a list of ‘Bottleneck’ vacancies. Bottleneck vacancies take longer to fill than average. Because of serious skills shortages pretty much every vacancies in the Belgian construction industry is considered such.
At the moment from a trades perspective in terms of Bottleneck vacancies carpentry and furniture making are the hardest posts to fill. This is followed by stonemasons and finally maintenance people.

Top 10 Most Difficult Belgian Construction Vacancies to Fill


  • 1. Carpenters/furniture makers (2,456)
  • 2.Masons (1,566)
  • 3.Building maintenance people (1,040)
  • 4.Painters/interior decorators (822)
  • 5. Roofers (789)
  • 6. Plasterers (586)
  • 7. Civil engineers (485)
  • 8. Industrial painters (416)
  • 9. Pavers (411)
  • 10. Formworkers (410)


A few shortages are of a qualitative nature and due to a lack of competences or specific technical skills. This is particularly so in the case of building maintenance personnel, painters and formworkers. But the main reason for most Bottleneck vacancies is a shortage of candidates. There are just too few candidates available on the Belgian labour market.


Belgian Construction Outlook
Over the past two years Belgium has experienced a small decrease in activity in the residential construction market, particularly in Flanders. Non residential building activities have taken over as the motor of the construction industry in Belgium.
Key areas of development include the construction of new industrial sites, logistic and commercial centres, offices and hospitals. It is anticipated that this will continue for some time.

Over the coming years the Belgian government will undertake a number of ambitious investment programmes which will result in the construction of new schools, infrastructure and social housing. The majority of this construction work will be carried out in the Flanders region.

Sources: VDAB (Flemish Public Employment Service), Belgian Confederation of Construction Enterprises, EURES (EU job mobility association),