Official figures show a growing share of the population is struggling with informal care responsibilities, while the need for informal care is likely to grow as the population ages.
Nearly half of Belgian adults (44.8%) reported facing obstacles in combining work and care responsibilities last year, up from one in three in 2018.
The figures, released by Statbel last week, highlight the increasing challenge of trying to juggle work and provide informal care responsibilities to a child, grandchild or family member.
These responsibilities are having a knock-on effect on working life, with the statistics agency showing the top three challenges being long working hours, having a demanding or exhausting job, and having unpredictable or difficult work schedules.
Roughly one in six working-age Belgians say their care responsibilities prevent them from working at all.
Statbel reports a significant difference between men and women, with women more likely to need to adapt their working arrangements (45.3% vs 25.4%) or reduce their working hours (19.4% vs 8.7%) compared to men. Furthermore around 100,000 more women than men say care responsibilities prevent them from working.
Around 280,000 form the "sandwich generation", adults who provide care to both a child and an adult family member. Almost half of the sandwich generation (150,000) also hold a job while providing care.
Care responsibilities set to evolve
In total, 3.4 million adults in Belgium provide care to someone in their family, with around 800,000 providing care to a family member who is vulnerable, ill or has a disability. As the population changes, the nature of informal care is set to evolve.
According to a report last year from the EU's agency for the improvement of living and working conditions, Eurofound, "ageing populations, declining fertility rates and changing family structures, along with climate change and digitalisation, are reshaping care needs and the provision of care."
A key recommendation was ensuring carers are recognised in legislation and national strategies. The agency suggests moving carers away from being a hidden part of the economy to something formally recognised, with additional support to balance flexible work.
"Unpaid caregivers require support in multiple areas, including healthcare, financial assistance, social protection and skills development," Eurofound noted in their report.
In Belgium, informal care was first legally recognised in 2014, with further rights for care leave granted in 2020. Earlier this year, the current Federal government passed emergency measures to ensure informal caregivers who are unemployed, and were set to lose their benefits, would not be affected.
The changing rules on long-term unemployment benefits in Belgium have led to an emerging debate on how to improve the legal status of informal caregivers, moving them away from unemployed status towards a more formal status.
Minister of Employment David Clarinval (MR) said at the time, "Being an informal carer means bearing an enormous responsibility, often in the shadows, incessantly, and far too often without sufficient recognition. They bear a considerable human and social burden, which we must better recognise and support," he said.
