Belgium: manufacturing output, jobs, productivity and costs in 2026
What Eurostat publishes about Belgian manufacturing, with the dataset code on every number and the gaps left visible.
| Indicator | Belgium | EU-27 | Year | Dataset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing gross value added | EUR 71,721.0 m | EUR 2,668,790.0 m | 2025 | nama_10_a10 |
| Share of total gross value added | 12.3% | 15.8% | 2025 | nama_10_a10 |
| Persons employed in manufacturing | 485,200 | 29,901,580 | 2025 | nama_10_a10_e |
| Value added per person employed | EUR 147.8k | EUR 89.3k | 2025 | derived |
| Manufacturing enterprises, all sizes | 42,355 | 2,168,163 | 2023 | sbs_ovw_act |
| Hourly labour cost | n/r | EUR 35.0 | 2025 | lc_lci_lev |
| Electricity, band ID | EUR 0.1901/kWh | EUR 0.1920/kWh | 2025-S2 | nrg_pc_205 |
| Manufacturers using at least one AI technology | 39.8% | 17.3% | 2025 | isoc_eb_ain2 |
Source: Eurostat, datasets as listed, extracted 22 September 2026.
Output and trend
Manufacturing gross value added was EUR 70,943.6 million in 2024 and EUR 71,721.0 million in 2025, +1.1% in current prices (nama_10_a10, B1G, CP_MEUR, NACE C). The EU-27 rose 2.0%. These are prices, not volumes: a 1.1% nominal rise is consistent with flat or falling physical output, so do not read it as growth.
Manufacturing is 12.3% of total Belgian gross value added, below the EU-27 figure of 15.8% and far below Denmark (20.2%) or Germany (19.4%).
Employment
Employment fell from 496,300 in 2024 to 485,200 in 2025, about 11,100 jobs, 2.2% (nama_10_a10_e). That is the steepest fall in the ten Western and Northern European countries in this set, against an EU-27 fall of 0.7%. Output nominally up, headcount down: the hours lost to changeover, short stops and waiting are now spread over fewer people.
Value added per person employed
EUR 147.8 thousand per person employed in 2025 against EUR 89.3 thousand for the EU-27, 1.65 times the EU level and third in the seventeen-country set behind Denmark (EUR 233.7k) and the Netherlands (EUR 162.3k). For the whole economy, tesem160 puts Belgium at 131.0 against EU-27 = 100 in 2025, down from 133.5 in 2024.
Read it with the sub-sector mix below. A country whose largest manufacturing sub-sector is pharmaceuticals shows high value added per head whatever its shop floors do.
The five largest sub-sectors
| Rank | Sub-sector (NACE) | Value added 2023 | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pharmaceuticals (C21) | EUR 14,579 m | 20.2% |
| 2 | Food, beverages, tobacco (C10 to C12) | EUR 12,122 m | 16.8% |
| 3 | Chemicals (C20) | EUR 9,831 m | 13.6% |
| 4 | Machinery n.e.c. (C28) | EUR 4,692 m | 6.5% |
| 5 | Fabricated metal (C25) | EUR 4,554 m | 6.3% |
Source: Eurostat nama_10_a64, B1G, CP_MEUR, 2023. Shares against the same dataset's Belgian NACE C total for 2023 (EUR 72,063 m).
Pharma, food and chemicals are 50.7% of Belgian manufacturing value added: a process profile, where the dominant losses are cleaning, product change, batch start-up and waiting on quality release. Discrete machinery and metal work together are 12.8%. A data project here starts from batch and changeover events, not from cycle counting on one machine.
Labour cost per hour
| Year | Belgium | EU-27 | Denmark |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | EUR 49.7 | EUR 32.1 | EUR 51.6 |
| 2024 | EUR 51.5 | EUR 33.8 | EUR 53.4 |
| 2025 | n/r | EUR 35.0 | EUR 55.0 |
| Change 2023 to 2024 | +3.6% | +5.3% | +3.5% |
Source: Eurostat lc_lci_lev, unit EUR, lcstruct D1_D4_MD5, NACE C. Changes calculated from the rows above.
On the last published year, a Belgian manufacturing hour cost EUR 51.5 against EUR 33.8 for the EU-27, three to five times Portugal, Romania or Bulgaria. The increase was slow: +3.6% over 2023 to 2024 against +5.3% for the EU. Belgium's pressure is the absolute price of an idle hour, not a wage shock.
Electricity: band ID
| Period | Belgium | EU-27 | Denmark | Finland |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-S1 | EUR 0.2007 | EUR 0.1969 | EUR 0.2768 | EUR 0.0875 |
| 2025-S2 | EUR 0.1901 | EUR 0.1920 | EUR 0.2732 | EUR 0.0846 |
| Change | -5.3% | -2.5% | -1.3% | -3.3% |
Source: Eurostat nrg_pc_205, siec E7000, nrg_cons MWH2000-19999, tax I_TAX, currency EUR, unit KWH.
Belgium was above the EU-27 average in the first half of 2025 and just below it in the second, after the largest fall in this group. A Belgian plant pays about 2.2 times a Finnish one and about 70% of a Danish one. Energy per part is a supporting argument here, not the leading one.
Vacancies and labour shortage
| Measure | Belgium | EU-27 | Dataset, period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing job vacancy rate, annual | 2.9% (3.2% in 2024) | 1.5% (1.8%) | jvs_a_rate_r2, 2025 |
| Manufacturing job vacancy rate, quarterly | 2.8% then 2.7% | 1.5% then 1.5% | jvs_q_nace2, 2025-Q3 and Q4 |
| Manufacturers naming labour as a limit on production | 9.1% then 13.3% | 15.8% then 18.0% | ei_bsin_q_r2, 2026-Q2 and Q3 |
Sources: Eurostat jvs_a_rate_r2, jvs_q_nace2 (indicator JVR) and ei_bsin_q_r2 (indicator BS-FLP3-PC). The survey rows are 2026 quarters and are not on the same time base as the annual rate.
Belgium has one of the three highest manufacturing vacancy rates in this group, behind the Netherlands (3.9%). The rate is falling while the survey share rises, so the two series disagree and neither should be quoted alone. The defensible reading is a tight market for specific technical roles, not empty lines.
AI and ICT adoption
| Enterprises using at least one AI technology | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium, all sectors | 24.7% | 34.5% |
| Belgium, manufacturing | 23.2% | 39.8% |
| EU-27, manufacturing | 10.6% | 17.3% |
Source: Eurostat isoc_eb_ai (all sectors) and isoc_eb_ain2 (NACE C), indicator E_AI_TANY, GE10.
At 39.8%, Belgian manufacturing reports the highest AI use in this seventeen-country set, ahead of Denmark (38.6%) and Sweden (32.9%), and it is one of only two countries here where manufacturing is above the national all-sector rate. The indicator counts any single AI technology anywhere in the enterprise, including office and commercial use, so it says nothing about whether a machine reports its own state.
Two indicators often quoted alongside it are n/r here: the Digital Intensity Index (isoc_e_dii) and robot density per 10,000 manufacturing employees were not retrieved in this pass and nothing has been substituted for them.
What this means for a plant in Belgium
- Your loss profile is process, not cycle. Record product change, cleaning, batch start-up and waiting on release before you count cycles.
- Price an hour at EUR 51.5 and say 2025 is n/r. That is the last published Belgian figure, and a business case that invents a 2025 number will not survive review.
- Plan for fewer technicians. 11,100 manufacturing jobs went in 2025. Stop reasons have to be captured where the stop happens, or they leave with the people who knew them.
- Energy is the second argument. At EUR 0.1901/kWh Belgium sits around the EU average, so energy per part supports a case rather than carrying it.
- Your customers assume you have the data. With 39.8% of Belgian manufacturers reporting AI use, the gap worth closing first is measurement, not modelling.
Every indicator on this page for 17 European countries and EU-27, each row carrying its Eurostat dataset code and link. Excel.
- Western Europe manufacturing data 2026 (hub)
- Smart factory: what changes on the shop floor
- Western Europe Manufacturing Data Pack 2026 (xlsx)
- Austria manufacturing data 2026
- Denmark manufacturing data 2026
- Finland manufacturing data 2026
- Sweden manufacturing data 2026
- Türkiye manufacturing data 2026
- Germany manufacturing data 2026
- Netherlands manufacturing data 2026
- Central and Eastern Europe manufacturing data
Questions
- How large is Belgian manufacturing in 2025?
- EUR 71,721.0 million of gross value added at current prices, 12.3% of total Belgian gross value added, with 485,200 persons employed. Sources: Eurostat nama_10_a10 and nama_10_a10_e, 2025.
- Why is there no 2025 hourly labour cost for Belgium?
- Eurostat publishes no observation and no flag for Belgium in lc_lci_lev, NACE C, 2025. The last published year is 2024 at EUR 51.5 per hour, so this page shows n/r and a 2023 to 2024 change.
- Is Belgian manufacturing productivity really 1.65 times the EU average?
- Value added per person employed is EUR 147.8k against EUR 89.3k for the EU-27 in 2025, derived from nama_10_a10 divided by nama_10_a10_e. Pharmaceuticals is 20.2% of Belgian manufacturing value added and lifts the ratio. It is not a shop-floor benchmark.
- Do 39.8% of Belgian factories use AI on the shop floor?
- No. Eurostat isoc_eb_ain2 counts enterprises with 10 or more employees using at least one AI technology anywhere in the business, including office use, and the 2025 wave asked a broader set of questions than 2024.
Sources
- Eurostat nama_10_a10 (B1G, CP_MEUR, NACE C and TOTAL), 2024 to 2025
- Eurostat nama_10_a10_e (EMP_DC, THS_PER, NACE C), 2024 to 2025
- Eurostat nama_10_a64 (B1G, CP_MEUR), 2023
- Eurostat sbs_ovw_act (ENT_NR, NACE C), 2023
- Eurostat lc_lci_lev (EUR, D1_D4_MD5, NACE C), 2023 to 2025
- Eurostat nrg_pc_205 (E7000, MWH2000-19999, I_TAX, EUR/kWh), 2025-S1 and 2025-S2
- Eurostat jvs_a_rate_r2 (NACE C, annual average), 2024 to 2025
- Eurostat jvs_q_nace2 (JVR, NACE C, NSA), 2025-Q3 and 2025-Q4
- Eurostat ei_bsin_q_r2 (BS-FLP3-PC, NSA), 2026-Q2 and 2026-Q3
- Eurostat isoc_eb_ai and isoc_eb_ain2 (E_AI_TANY, PC_ENT, GE10), 2024 to 2025
- Eurostat tesem160 (NLPR_HW, PC_EU27_2020_MPPS_CP), 2024 to 2025
Published by TEEPTRAK SAS, which makes production-monitoring and OEE software. Every figure is sourced on the page. Funding rules, standards and reporting duties change: check the official documents before you budget or commit.