Around 726,350 people were working in Brussels in 2017: a record since the region was created in 1989 and 10,000 more people than the year before, according to a Brussels Employment and Training Observatory study Le Soir got access to. Unemployment has dropped since 2012 and the percentage of the population in employment has increased.
33,000 people have entered the Brussels job market in five years. But unemployment is no longer going up and has dropped since 2012. The employment rate (the link between the number of people working and the percentage of people of working age) has also gone up, from 54% to 56.2%.
The Brussels Employment Minister, Didier Gosuin, told Le Soir that this change was due to an improvement in the economic conjuncture and Federal measures. He also said it was due to “fundamental movement” in the capital.
He said there are currently more Brussels residents working in the region than commuters from Wallonia or Flanders. He also noted that more and more Brussels residents are getting jobs outside of Brussels.
The unemployment rate remains higher in the capital (15%) than elsewhere in the country.
The Brussels Times
