Unemployment in the Brussels region increased last month to 88,155 people – up 0.5% on the same period last year, statistics published on Monday by regional employment agency Actiris revealed.
While overall unemployment in Brussels appears to have stabilised, the situation has become more acute for young people in the capital, with youth unemployment rising 6.9% compared to last year.
In total, Brussels had 9,937 job seekers aged under 25 and the trend is only accelerating. Last month, Actiris recorded 9,654 unemployed people under 25, up 3.7% from last year. More than one in four under-25s are currently unemployed.
“The increase in youth unemployment is probably due to the fact that many young people who should have finished their studies in 2020 or 2021 decided to extend them because of the health crisis and registered for the first time this summer,” Actiris believes.
Credit: Actiris
The employment agency has previously said that the increase in youth unemployment was nothing to worry about, drawing parallels with increases seen in September 2021 during recovery after the pandemic.
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Overall, the employment picture in Brussels has deteriorated, particularly due to economic conditions and higher labour costs. Actiris also noted an influx of Ukrainian refugee jobseekers, which has pushed total unemployment upwards to 1.5%.
Despite this, there are still plenty of professions in short supply, especially in the Capital. Belgium needs to fill 21,000 vacancies in the tech sector and there are 113 professions which employers are struggling to recruit for in Brussels, also mostly in technical fields.
