Entrepreneur from Rollegem gets it right: students are allowed to work 600 hours

He campaigned for job students to be allowed to work more hours, without parents losing their growth package (child allowance), and politicians have followed suit. Jong ACV is not so happy about that. The decision was not made in the best interest of the student, they say.

Hannes Catanzaro works in his catering company in Rollegem near Kortrijk with 22 job students. So they are only allowed to work 475 hours, but that is not enough. “When a student comes, they have to learn a lot. Only after 200 hours do they know how to work, and after 475 hours they had to stop. So I risk losing a lot.”

Hannes’ cry for help spread throughout Flanders this summer. Now the government has decided that students are allowed to work 600 hours against the greatly reduced social contribution, and so they can earn more. Jong ACV would rather have seen it differently. She would have preferred to see the job students subject to social security from day one. Nicky Howie, ACV: “The regulations regarding job students are complex. There is also a lot of confusion about whether or not to lose child benefit. Job students up to the age of 18, for example, could already work indefinitely. And older job students could still work 80 hours a week after those 475 hours. months of work, without touching the growth package.”