Mobility problems have curbed employment growth in Brussels, where only 736 jobs were created from June 2015 and June 2016. On the other hand, 33.000 and 16.000 new jobs were created in Flanders and Wallonia respectively in the same period.
While the number of jobs increased nationally by 1.5%, growth was only 0.1% in Brussels, according to Katholieke Universiteit Leuven researchers quoted by De Tijd on Thursday.
The problem is not so much creating jobs in Brussels since 35,000 posts were added there in a year. The increase was almost entirely negated by the fact that more jobs were eliminated than elsewhere and that enterprises and institutions moved to Flanders or Wallonia.
Employers with many branches in the country cut 8,000 jobs in one year in Brussels, while only 5,500 were replaced. Due to this internal reorganisation, Brussels lost 2,500 jobs.
Between 2014 and 2015, a similar number of jobs had disappeared because of delocalization in Belgium.
Employers stressed that mobility problems were a cause of the job losses.
The Brussels Times
