Belgian ready to work until 60

22 February 2007

According to the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions 15 percent of the Belgian working population will retire in the next 10 years and half of the working population is willing to work until the age of 60.

The foundation published the results of its fourth study into the working conditions of Europeans and revealed that 52.3 percent of Belgians feel capable of working the same job until the age of 60.

Fewer and fewer workers in the EU feel that their security or health is in danger at the work place; this percentage is significantly higher in countries that recently joined the European Union.

Belgian workers are apparently in better shape then their European counterparts. According to the study, 19.4 percent of Belgian interviewees said they suffered from back pain, 17.2 percent from muscle pain and 18.7 percent from fatigue, numbers that are all lower then the European averages.

Work in Belgian also appears to be more flexible than in other countries and 14 percent of interviewees claim that they are able to work remotely, from home or elsewhere, compared to an European average of about 8 percent.

Subject: Belgian news