According to the Graydon research office, 6,918 bankruptcy judgments were pronounced in 2021: this is 12.8% less than in 2020, a year also marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, but it is also 41.5% less than the last “normal” year, 2019.
In the last quarter of last year, a slight increase was once more recorded, “but it remains well below pre-crisis levels“, indicates the report. In Flanders, 3,659 bankruptcy judgments were pronounced last year, which is 13.1% less than in 2020 and 36.5% less than in 2019. In Brussels, there are even had more than half (-55.8%) fewer businesses declared bankrupt compared to that year.
The most affected construction
The construction sector remained the main source of insolvencies in 2021. Last year 1,437 construction companies went bankrupt: slightly more (+ 2.4%) than in 2020, but still 31.1 % less than in 2019. The number of bankruptcies in the hotel and catering industry has fallen further (-25.7%) compared to 2020. Compared to 2019, this is even a reduction of half . In third place, we find the retail trade, with 708 companies that will go bankrupt in 2021, another 45% less than in 2019.
Job losses due to bankruptcies were also logically lower in 2021. According to Graydon, a total of 13,599 jobs were lost due to bankruptcy. This is more than 28.5% less than in 2020 and 35% less than in 2019.
Most jobs were lost last year in the hospitality industry (2,475), followed immediately by the construction industry (2,437 jobs) and the business service sector (1,866 jobs) . In retail, 1,727 jobs were at risk. In Flanders, the construction sector was the leader in terms of job losses, notes Graydon.
