In February, the Brussels-Captial Region had 87,738 job seekers – 2,038 more than in the same period last year (+2.4%), according to statistics from Brussels employment centre Actiris. Among those unemployed, 1,567 are Ukrainian job seekers. The war in Ukraine has led to an uptick in job seekers, mostly refugees.
In the capital, the unemployment rate reached 15.3%. Youth unemployment remains elevated at 24.6% – 7.7% higher than last year.
Ukrainian refugees are overrepresented in job seekers statistics. While in February 2022, there were just 99 Ukrainians registered as “non-compensated jobseekers” with Actiris, now there are 1,567. Excluding Ukrainian jobseekers, the rise in unemployment would be slight, with an increase of 0.7% (570 people).
The issue of unemployment in Brussels is compounded by a decrease in the number of job listings received by the capital’s employment agency. Actiris received 6,050 job offers last February, 10% less than the year before.
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Actiris explains that this dynamic is caused by a slowdown in the Belgian economy, as well as the consequences of the ongoing energy crisis and high inflation.
In February 2023, the national Belgian unemployment rate stood at 5.8%, according to statistics from the National Bank of Belgium. Belgian unemployment is complicated by a lack of language skills and difficulties in labour mobility across the country's various linguistic regions.
