The figures represent the first upward swing since the global economic crisis started. In addition, the upturn is described by the VDAB as “very abrupt”. Whereas in January and February there was still no sign of an increase in jobs, the total jumped in March by more than 25,000, to 37,903 new jobs.

The VDAB reacted with caution, however: “There is no reason for euphoria because we’re comparing with figures from the middle of the crisis. This is just a signal that the economy is slowly recovering.”

March is typically a month that sees an increase in job vacancies, and this year’s long, cold winter meant that the catering industry postponed some of the recruitment they would normally carry out in February. This would help to explain the 64.7% increase in job announcements in the catering sector.

But all sectors of the economy shared in the month’s upturn, as did all parts of Flanders. Banks announced 1,000 new jobs, while the textile sector, with 338 new jobs in March, achieved a staggering 141% increase on the year before.

Last year was disastrous in Belgium, with about 70,000 job losses recorded, which makes this year’s projected loss of 40,000 jobs looks positive. However, in the first three months of this year, 7,000 people lost their jobs. “The deepest point has not yet been reached,” commented Chris Serroyen of the research department of the ACV Christian trade union. “Statistically speaking, the recession may be behind us, but there’s no sign of that on the jobs market. It’ll take more than a few green shoots here and there before we can say the crisis is over.”

At the end of March, Flanders had 205,816 job seekers out of work, representing 7% of the working population and 7.4% more than last year. The number of job seekers now unemployed between one and two years went up by 41%, while the number of those counted as highly educated rose by 16%. The latter tend to work in industries like high tech and insurance, which are more cautious in taking on new staff and which also have more recourse to temp agencies, who have also seen the number of jobs they handle increase.

• Last week Toyota vice-chairman Katsuaki Watanabe gave foreign minister Steven Vanackere a pledge that the company would create 200 new jobs at its research and development plant in Zaventem, outside Brussels, where the company currently employs about 800 people.