In Belgium, 73.3% of people aged 20 to 64 were employed in the second quarter, according to figures released on Tuesday by the statistics agency Statbel.
This marks an increase from the first quarter, when the employment rate stood at 72.6%. The growth is largely driven by those aged 55 to 64, whose employment rate rose from 60.4% in the first quarter to 62.4% in the second quarter. Among 20- to 54-year-olds, the employment rate remained nearly unchanged at 76.5%. Overall, an estimated 4.97 million people were employed in Belgium during this period.
Flanders is the closest to achieving the target of an 80% employment rate by 2029, a goal outlined in the government coalition agreement. In the second quarter, Flanders recorded an employment rate of 77.8%, compared to 68.4% in Wallonia and 64.4% in Brussels.
The data is based on the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which involves a sample of approximately 24,000 people.
