After increasing for several months then stabilising in July, unemployment started to decrease in Flanders in August, reveal figures published by VDAB, the Flemish office for employment and training. Flanders had 247,826 jobseekers at the end of August, 685 or 0.3% fewer than in August 2014, the first annual decrease since January 2015.
Counting older jobseekers continues to affect figures negatively however, as the number of unemployed 55-to-60-year-olds increased by 3.2% or 1,048 in August, whilst the number of jobseekers over 60 increased by 5,072 (+153.7%).
At the same time, the number of young jobseekers decreased significantly (-5.5%), as did the number of short-term unemployed (for less than one year, -3.9%). These figures point to a steady improvement of the economic situation, highlights VDAB.
(Source: Belga)
