Unions and management at Dera Food Technology in Bornem, Antwerp province, have agreed to a restructuring that will mean the loss of 58 jobs from a workforce of 136. Some of the redundancies will be taken up by early retirement for workers. The company is transferring production to Poland, while R&D remains here.

Staff at Innogenetics in Ghent took strike action last week to call for a better package for workers being laid off. The company is cutting 59 jobs from a workforce of 270, a result of the takeover last year by the Japanese Fujirebio and the closure of Innogenetics' R&D activities here.

Flanders faces a shortage of 120,000 workers in all areas of the health-care sector by 2014, according to the office of Flemish health minister Jo Vandeurzen. "We're facing an almost impossible challenge," a spokesman said. "The baby boom generation is retiring, but the need for health-care workers is increasing because of the ageing population."