Four in ten Belgian employers consider laying off staff due to rising costs

Four in ten employers in Belgium are considering laying people off because of rising costs. This was revealed Sunday in a poll by the hr services group Liantis. Yet a quarter of employers continue to look for new employees.

The survey of 1,568 business owners shows that many entrepreneurs expect sharply rising costs. Therefore, some three-quarters of entrepreneurs estimate that average costs per employee will increase by more than ten per cent due to energy prices, fuel prices and wage indexation. About one in ten entrepreneurs expect an increase of more than 30 per cent.

As a result, 39.3 per cent of business owners are thinking of laying off people to cut costs. "Whether these intentions will translate into actual layoffs remains to be seen in the coming months. Possibly entrepreneurs are waiting to see how the economic situation will evolve," says Bernd Carett of Liantis Consult. However, he does point out that employers also have other options, such as resorting to temporary unemployment because of the energy crisis.

The hr firm also highlights a contradiction, as 26 per cent of employers say they are urgently looking for additional employees. But, according to Bernd Carette, this has to do with certain key positions that are difficult to fill due to the current tightness in the labour market.

"Those key positions are so crucial that you can't cut them. So, on the one hand, this causes certain employers to let go of people. But, on the other hand, they are also looking very hard for certain profiles. For example, IT colleagues, commercial staff, technical managers and experts in healthcare."

^{© BELGA PHOTO Nils Quintelier}