17,000 redundancies in 2012

Last year, 16,707 people were affected by collective redundancy procedures in Belgium, according to figures released by the Federal Employment department and published by Le Soir today. The figure for the previous year was 6,655. The companies affected in 2012 include steel manufacturers Bekaert and Carsid (609 and 1,004 redundancies respectively) and Ford Genk, whose closure will cost 4,264 people their jobs. The end of the year also brought its share of bad news, with several of Ford’s subcontractors affected, but also fellow steel producers Duferco (459 redundancies) and NLMK (882). Flanders has suffered the most from this wave of layoffs, with more than 12,000 people affected by restructuring. In Wallonia, collective redundancy procedures involved 3,539 people last year, up from 1,515 in 2011 and 1,196 in 2010. Brussels fared better, with 938 people affected, down from 2011 (1,509) and 2010 (5,687). In the steel industry alone, restructuring plans affected 11,451 workers in 2012.