SMEs created 9,600 jobs last year in Flanders

Unizo described the evolution of jobs in the small business sector – companies with 50 employees or fewer – as “a fragile recovery”, following the 2.5% reduction in jobs in 2012.

Food and drinks services nevertheless saw a bad year in 2013, with 6.6% of jobs disappearing; construction saw a fall of 1.3%, and manufacturing industry jobs went down by 0.5%. The latter figure is of particular concern, Unizo said, because of the consequences that can now be expected in businesses that depend on manufacturing.

The overall increase was due to growth in the professions (up 7.7%) and financial services (up 6.9%). Distribution, health care and transport also all added jobs. SMEs as a whole in Flanders now count 640,000 jobs.

“We will keep on hammering on our demand for an across-the-board reduction in costs,” Unizo said. “That’s the only way to improve the competitiveness of companies and to boost employment.” The organisation has asked the government to cut employment costs by 5%, equivalent to a €7 billion stimulus, which it says would create 80,000 jobs.

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