Three times more dismissed by bankruptcies: « Especially with established SMEs, the increase is striking »
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Last year there were three times more people on the street due to bankruptcies compared to 2023. This is apparent from an analysis by HR service provider Securex. « The rise is particularly striking at established SMEs. »
In 2024, 11,067 companies were declared bankrupt in Belgium. That is an increase of 8.0 percent compared to 2023 and the highest number since 2013. A lot of jobs were also killed. In Flanders, no fewer than 19,179, a record disappeared. And they also see that at HR service provider Securex, who made an analysis based on the figures.
« In recent years, companies have had to cope with several major crises, » says Frank Vander Sijpe, expert HR trends at Securex. “After the pandemic, the impact on job loss was still reasonably limited by all protection measures that were taken. But now that those measures have disappeared, the full effect of the current crisis is becoming increasingly clear. And we don't see that trend turning in the short term. «
Especially the number of dismissed by a bankruptcy is striking, says Vander Sijpe. “We see that three times more jobs have been lost due to bankruptcies compared to the year before. That is therefore a significant increase. And we don't just see that trend at the smallest companies. We also see many bankruptcies and job loss at established SMEs that had a solid position in the market. Small companies up to 9 employees are 17 percent of the involuntary outflow, while in 2023 it was still 8.95 percent. For companies with between 10 and 49 employees, that number increases from 1.4 percent to 8.95 percent. ” Especially with employees, the increase is considerable and almost 5 times more were fired compared to 2023. The number also doubled for workers.
Saving workers saving
Where companies did a kind of 'Laborhoarding', that trend is now completely turned. “A few years ago you saw that a lot of people were held on board because it was so difficult to fill vacancies. Companies stopped working workers to be able to scale up again when it would be necessary. But that has turned now. In the last five years, wages have also risen by around 20 percent without the same extent rising to the same extent. Companies are therefore forced to restructure or therefore go bankrupt. ”
“In the last five years, wages have risen by around 20 percent without increasing productivity to the same extent. Companies are therefore forced to restructure or therefore go bankrupt ”
Frank Vander Sijpe
Expert HR trends at Securex
Striking, the total outflow has remained more or less stable. This is mainly because employees themselves were even less inclined to take the leap in these economically difficult times to change employer. “In any case, it is ingrained in our legislation and our culture that we would like to be locked up in a golden cage. Which in itself causes little dynamics on our labor market. But now that the economy is going worse, we see that employees are even less inclined to change Job and that is not good for our labor market. In this way people stay in places where they might rather not sit and they don't make room for new people. «
