Belgium: Students may work 475 hours a year as of 2017

Student work is very popular in Belgium. The main reason is the fact that students, as well as the employers who employ them, enjoy, under strict conditions, significant reductions in social security contributions on the earned/paid out salary. Recently, the Ministers of the Federal Government agreed to adjust the legislation on student work. At the time of writing, students may work 50 days per year. As of 2017, the period for which students may work under the previously mentioned advantageous conditions will no longer be expressed in days, but in hours (475 hours to be exactly). This reform will render student work more flexible, as students for example will no longer lose a whole day when they work in fact only a couple of hours a day and employers will be able to enable students more easily at peak moments in view of the fact that over-hours will be permitted under certain conditions.