Morocco is Belgium’s largest labor provider after the Belgians, with a 9pc share of workers on the job market, human resources specialist Acerta said on Monday.
Moroccans come after the Belgians (84.2%) and ahead of the French (8.2%), the Dutch (7.3%), the Romanians (7%) and the Poles (5.6%), specifies Acerta in a report, noting that last year, 15.8% of people active in the labor market did not have Belgian nationality, a new record.
In 2021, the rate of workers from another country was thus 14.8%, and in 2017, it was only 12.6%, underlines the report, adding that the two nationalities having registered the the biggest increase are Ukrainians (+97.7% compared to 2021) and Afghans (+13.9%).
Acerta notes that faced with the significant labor shortages that persist in certain sectors, companies that cannot find suitable profiles are increasingly turning to foreign workers to meet their needs.
Most foreigners are active in the sectors of transport and logistics (which account for 25.7% of non-Belgians) and food (21.1%), as well as in hotels and restaurants (18 .8%) and construction (17.8%).
In addition to the goal of filling vacancies, “research has repeatedly shown that diversity benefits workplace atmosphere and creativity,” Acerta argues.
Yet three out of four companies lack a diversity policy aimed at better integrating different nationalities and cultures in the workplace, with concrete targets, the report says.