Over 10,000 people temporarily unemployed in Belgium due to energy crisis

In one and a half weeks, Belgian companies have filed for temporary unemployment for over 10,000 workers due to the energy crisis, Mediahuis newspapers report on Friday. The figure is based on the latest list from Belgium's National Employment Office (RVA).

Two hundred Belgian companies have already applied to use the temporary unemployment scheme specifically due to the energy crisis, writes De Standaard. That recently created scheme allows companies to have their staff collect unemployment benefits, on the condition that energy accounts for more than 3 per cent of production costs. In that case, the Belgian government guarantees increased unemployment benefits.

The National Employment Office's latest update shows that those two hundred companies applied for temporary unemployment for 10,684 employees. The numbers rose rapidly in the first days after the scheme was introduced. On October 6, the counter stood at only 44 companies and 1,175 employees.

In recent weeks, several major Belgian industrial companies announced that they would scale back or even shut down production due to high energy prices. These include a plant of the Norwegian chemical group Yara in Tertre, BASF Antwerp's ammonia production and stainless steel producer Aperam's site in Genk.

(KOR)

^{© BELGA PHOTO DAVID STOCKMAN}