Fewer than half of the 241,195 unemployed jobseekers in Wallonia at the end of October were receiving unemployment or integration benefits, FOREM reported on Friday.
In October, the Walloon employment office counted 111,911 people looking for work and claiming benefits. This represented a 3.6% drop compared with October 2023 and 0.6% compared with September 2024.
Jobseekers on benefits represented 46.4% of all unemployed jobseekers.
Added to this are young people taking integration courses (14.5% of jobseekers, -7% on an annual basis) and compulsorily registered jobseekers (11%). These are unemployed people excluded from benefits and jobseekers registered at the request of a public social action centre (CPAS).
There has been a sharp increase in the number of jobseekers who register voluntarily with FOREM in order to benefit from its services.
The number of persons in this category grew by 38.8% in one year (+18,929 people) and by 1.5% compared with September. They now represent 28.1% of Wallonia's jobseekers.
FOREM is trying to bring back into its fold people who are looking for work but who are not receiving benefits (neither unemployment nor CPAS benefits) and are therefore not obliged to register with its services.
In one year, the number of unemployed jobseekers rose by 14,079.
The jobseeker rate in Wallonia stood at 14.6% in October.
