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Belgium
Germany
France
Netherlands
2011
132,200
620,600
478,000
221,900
2012
130,500
620,500
452,500
223,300
2013
125,900
614,200
451,700
228,600
2014
129,600
701,000
479,000
244,000
2015
130,100
701,700
478,500
241,900
2016
123,500
711,800
476,100
245,300
2017
123,700
661,400
495,000
272,900
2018
125,000
674,100
496,700
262,300
2019
124,400
682,100
501,700
259,400
Changes in US employment figures, in Belgium and elsewhere, are driven in part by changes in corporate ownership. For example, the noticeable dip in US employment in Germany in 2017 is most likely due to General Motors’s sale of Opel that year. It is also the case in Belgium that some of the companies which appeared in previous editions of our US Top 50 are no longer US owned (e.g. Temco or Monsanto).
But M&A activity is not sufficient to explain the decline in US employment in Belgium. While many US companies continue to invest and create jobs here – McDonald’s created almost 3,000 new jobs over the past 10 years, climbing from 11th to 2nd in our US Top 50 – in aggregate, Belgium is losing out to neighboring countries, where US employment is growing.
The real culprit is the high cost of labor in Belgium. High labor costs have led some US companies to relocate their operations, and they are also one of the reasons why the country is not winning more job-creating investments. In a context of high inflation, Belgium’s system of automatic wage indexation will only put further pressure on labor costs.
AmCham Belgium has high ambitions for the country: We hope that this year’s US Top 50, holding steady after years of decline, is the beginning of a reversal. We believe that Belgium has the right ingredients to attract net positive US employment, as we see in neighboring countries, but further labor market reforms will be needed to ensure that costs are competitive and talent remains available.
