72,000 new jobs in a year 02/11/2007 00:00

2 November 2007

BRUSSELS – 72,000 new jobs were created in the Belgian economy between the second quarters of 2006 and 2007, according to figures from the Institute for National Statistics. The increase in the number of jobs was primarily due to the strong economic growth of the past few years.

The Belgian economy created many more jobs than thought. So far the government believed that 60,000 jobs had been created, while the actual number is closer to 72,000. As a result the outgoing government of Guy Verhofstadt realised its objective of creating a total of 200,000 new jobs.

In the meantime the Belgian economy is cooling off much more quickly than anticipated. Growth in the third quarter slowed to 0.4 percent. This will make it more difficult for the significant growth in employment to continue.

[Copyright Expatica News 2007]

Subject: Belgian news