Unemployment in Brussels has reached its lowest level in almost two decades, l'Echo has reported.
The Belgian capital recorded an average of 86,250 job seekers over the course of 2022, a drop of 2.9% (2,531 people) compared to last year, according to figures released by Actiris, the Brussels employment office.
Surprisingly, the number of unemployed people was lower (by 2%) than before the Covid-19 pandemic as well as during the eurozone crisis a decade ago. Indeed, the last time such low unemployment figures were recorded was in 2003, when Brussels registered an average of 84,259 job seekers.
The Brussels unemployment figures appear to mirror those across Belgium as a whole. According to the latest figures released by Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, in October last year Belgium's overall unemployment rate stood at 5.4%, a decrease of 0.6% compared to the same month in 2021. Notably, Belgium's unemployment rate was also lower than both the EU and the eurozone average of 6.0% and 6.5%, respectively.
Digging into the details
Brussels' overall decline in unemployment in 2022, however, masks important differences in the capital's unemployment rate during different periods in the year. In particular, although the first half of 2022 saw unemployment in the Belgian capital decrease by 4.9% compared to 2021, in the second half the decrease was significantly less, only 0.7%. Moreover — and rather worryingly — the unemployment rate actually rose in both October and November.
The number of permanent job offers also markedly decreased (by 22.3%) during the last quarter of 2022, while fewer companies are currently expected to create jobs in the first quarter of this year compared to the last quarter of 2022.
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Additionally, the unemployment rate for people under the age of 25 also rose significantly (by 18.3%) over the past year, with many people entering the job market after extending their studies during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to experts cited by l'Echo, it is highly likely that the worsening economic situation throughout the second half of 2022 was a consequence of Belgium's soaring inflation rate, which in turn was precipitated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February. L'Echo also noted that, had Brussels not registered 1,529 Ukrainian job seekers in 2022, the average decrease in its unemployment rate would have been 3.7%, rather than 2.9%.
