Student Work Surges in Belgium: 650,000 Now Hold Jobs

Nearly 650,000 students worked in Belgium in 2025, according to new statistics published on June 18 by the Belgian National Social Security Office (ONSS) — a 25% increase over the past decade and a record high that is reshaping the country’s labor market. The surge follows the Arizona coalition government’s reform, which raised the annual student work ceiling from 475 to 650 hours, doubled the tax exemption on student income, and lowered the minimum working age to 15. While the government frames the policy as expanding opportunity, unions and academics warn it is driving precarity, harming academic performance, and displacing regular employment.

The Scale of the Shift

The ONSS data, reported by L’Avenir, shows that the number of student workers rose 1.3% year-over-year in 2025, reaching approximately 650,000. The volume of student work hours has grown even more dramatically — a 58% increase between 2017 and 2024, according to a study by the Bureau du Plan published on June 10. By contrast, regular employment grew just 7% over the same period, while temporary agency work declined by 20%.

Jasper Hubeau, Director of Financial and Statistical Services at the ONSS, noted that the traditional model of summer-only student work has all but disappeared. “There was a time when students only worked in summer, as a kind of little extra,” Hubeau told L’Avenir. “But that era is definitively over. Barely 13% of students still work in that model.” One in three student workers now holds a job in all four quarters of the year.

The Reform and Its Drivers

The Arizona government — a coalition of N-VA, MR, Engagés, CD&V, and Vooruit — enacted the student work reform effective January 1, 2025. The changes raised the annual ceiling from 475 to 650 hours, doubled the tax exemption on student income, raised the net income threshold to €12,000, and lowered the minimum working age to 15 without any educational level requirement.

According to an analysis by RTBF, the Bureau du Plan found that the direct impact of the hour increase is limited — fewer than 5% of student workers are affected by the higher ceiling. However, critics argue the broader signal is more significant: the normalization of year-round student employment as a structural feature of the Belgian economy.

A System Under Strain

Philippe Vankeirsbilck, Secretary General of the CNE Christian trade union, offered a stark assessment in an interview with RTBF. “Everything that had been collectively banned because it was bad for the worker — hyper-precarity, casual labor, very low wages — has been authorized for the student,” he said. Vankeirsbilck estimates that 70,000 full-time equivalent jobs are now held by students — positions he argues would otherwise be regular, protected employment.

The substitution effect is most visible in retail and hospitality, where student workers have increasingly replaced regular employees. The Bureau du Plan’s data supports this: student work grew 58% while temp agency work fell 20%, suggesting that the expansion of student employment is not creating new jobs but rather displacing existing ones.

The financial implications are substantial. Vankeirsbilck’s colleagues at the CNE have calculated that the reduced social contribution rate for student workers costs the system approximately €800 million in lost taxes and social contributions. The CGSLB liberal union estimates the loss could reach €1.5 billion by 2029 if current trends continue.

Student workers pay a reduced solidarity contribution rather than full social security, meaning they do not accrue full rights to unemployment benefits, pensions, or paid vacation. As student employment grows, the contribution base for Belgium’s social security system shrinks.

Academic Consequences

Bernard Fusulier, Professor of Sociology at UCLouvain, warned of the impact on education. “If you multiply those 60 credits by 30 hours, you have a total volume of 1,800 hours of expected study work,” Fusulier told RTBF. “That’s the equivalent of a full-time job for a salaried worker.” His research shows that beyond 400 hours of work per year, the adjustment variable is class hours — students skip lectures to accommodate work schedules.

An UCLouvain study found that 63% of students had at least one job in 2024, making student work the norm rather than the exception. Over 535,000 students held a job by the end of 2025, out of approximately 900,000 young people aged 15-25 pursuing studies. A Randstad survey cited in the research found that one in three students works during exam periods, and nearly 30% admit that work has negatively affected their academic results.

Opportunity or Necessity?

A central tension in the debate is whether students are choosing to work or being forced to by economic circumstances. Vankeirsbilck argues the latter: “I don’t think students are asking to work. Students are asking to study in good conditions, with sufficient income to live.” He points to government policies that have reduced disposable income for working-class families while increasing the cost of tuition, housing, and living expenses.

The CSC trade union echoed this view in its position paper against the reform, stating that the government’s real intention is “to offer businesses cheap and flexible labor” while creating competition that drives down wages and working conditions for all workers.

What’s Next

The debate over student work in Belgium is far from settled. With the Arizona government also pursuing the extension of “flexi-jobs” to all sectors — approved by the Chamber in June 2026 — the trend toward flexible, reduced-protection employment appears likely to accelerate.

Key questions remain: What will be the long-term impact on graduation rates for students working intensively? How will the government address the growing social security funding gap created by the shift toward student and flexible employment? And can policy alternatives — such as expanded scholarship systems, reduced tuition costs, and affordable student housing — address the root causes of student precarity without expanding precarious work itself?

For now, the numbers tell a clear story: student work in Belgium has moved from a summer supplement to a year-round necessity for hundreds of thousands of young people, with profound implications for the labor market, the education system, and the social security model that has long defined the country’s social contract.