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US Top 50: Still Going Strong

The US Top 50, our annual listing of the 50 largest US groups in Belgium as measured by employment, directly employed 81,748 people (FTEs) in total in 2016, the latest year for which official data are available, according to new research carried out by AmCham Belgium.

US companies are important job creators in Belgium: the 900 majority-owned US groups active here directly employed more than 126,000 people in 2016. The US Top 50 companies alone employed 81,748 people in 2016, which accounts for 64% of total US employment in Belgium and highlights the importance of large multinational companies as a source of direct jobs – to say nothing of the ecosystems they create. These 50 companies contributed more than €1.68 billion to the Belgian State in taxes and social security in 2016. 

After falling for a number of years, employment among the US Top 50 is now stabilizing. As the total number of jobs created by US companies in Belgium has held fairly steady over this time, the changes in the US Top 50 likely reflect mergers and acquisitions involving US companies.

US Top 50 Companies in Belgium - Ranked by Employees in 2016

US Company (Belgian affiliates) Employees (2016)   US Company (Belgian affiliates) Employees (2016)
1. ManpowerGroup 14,681   26. Merck & Co (MSD)2 946
2. Johnson & Johnson (Janssen Pharmaceutica) 5,270   27. Pepsico2 926
3. McDonald's2 3,969   28. Aviapartner1,4 915
4. Nike 2 3,027   29. CEVA2,4 845
5. Robert Half 2,982   30. General Electric1 839
6. Mohawk (Unilin)1 2,912   31. Honeywell 837
7. FedEx 2,690   32. VF Europe1 830
8. Balta 2, 4 2,576   33. McKesson1 816
9. Coca-Cola1 2,458   34. Monsanto   827
10. Pfizer2 2,340   35. Eastman (Solutia, Taminco)1 780
11. ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical 2,194   36. Avery Dennison  778
12. Paccar (DAF Trucks)  2,109   37. ON Semiconductor1 731
13. Mondelēz International1 1,868   38. DuPont Belgium 708
14. Hewlett-Packard 1,475   39. The Dow Chemical Company  699
15. Baxter  1,462   40. XPO Logistics 684
16. Proctor & Gamble 1,439   41. Kellogg's1 643
17. IBM1 1,410   42. Adient2 640
18. Tenneco1 1,207   43. Emerson2 635
19. Caterpillar 3 1,145   44. Fluor1 630
20. UPS 1,129   45. Danaher1 630
21.  Estée Lauder  1,094   46. 3M 624
22. Cargill2 1,090   47. BNY Mellon 618
23. Accenture1 1,035   48. Cisco Systems1 606
24. Berkshire Hathaway (Duracell, Lubrizol, H.J. Heinz ...)1 958   49. Becton Dickinson1 572
25. Aleris1 953   50. Stanley Black & Decker 558

1: Unconfirmed by company or partial confirmation
2: Information provided by company
3: The data was adapted to reflect the post 2015 changes in Gosselies, based on information provided by the company

4: Owned by a private equity firm. US employment may increase if other holdings are taken into account 

Keep an eye open for the 2018 edition of the Business Barometer, a biennial study conducted jointly by AmCham Belgium and A.T. Kearney, surveying the international business community on their confidence in Belgium as business and investment location, which will be published on September 13, 2018!