Flanders had 168,800 jobseekers in May, down 29,483 from a year earlier, Flemish Employment Minister Hilde Crevits said Wednesday.
This is the lowest number of job seekers since 2008.
Compared to the previous month, the number of people looking for work in Flanders decreased by 5.3%.
The unemployment rate in Flanders currently sits at 5.43%, “the lowest level in years,” Crevits said.
As in April, the number of jobseekers who have been looking for work for one or two years rose by 0.8%, which is less than the previous month when the increase was 7%.
The number of people who have been looking for a job for less than a year fell sharply by 29%.
The number of young people on work placement, a waiting period after leaving school, decreased in May by 28.5% compared to May 2020.
The number of jobseekers under 25 years of age also decreased by 21.9%.
Unemployment continues to be higher than usual in the retail sector throughout Belgium in general as a result of the pandemic: shopping by appointment, the coronavirus fighting measure imposed by the Belgian government during the Easter ‘pause,’ resulted in the number of days of temporary unemployment in the retail sector doubling in April.
That situation is expected to improve going forward.
The Brussels Times
