Job vacancies are on the up in Belgium in warehouses, airports or in schools. And now, the public service Forem has updated its list of jobs that are currently suffering labour shortages in Wallonia.
The number of sectors facing labour shortages in Wallonia totals 141 for 2022, up by 15 compared to last year. The construction industry had the most jobs on the list, with 41.
Police inspectors and sales assistants, and 13 other types of jobs were stated to be no longer in short supply.
However, 31 jobs were added to the list, with a third of them coming from the Horeca sector in spite of a record number of job applications in 2021.
More than 200,000 job openings were posted on Forem's website between January and May 2022, with over a third of them coming from industries with labor shortages.
Workers over the age of 50 make up 30% of the workforce in 37 of these industries, which has raised concerns that these shortages will worsen in the future, hastening the need for solutions to be found.
The solutions proposed
On the one hand, Forem has made 350 vocational trainings available, with 211 of them in high-demand sectors. On the other hand, the government is stepping up its efforts to boost employment in Belgium.
Up to 5 days of person vocational training per year was incorporated in the government's recent 'Jobs Deal' labour reform.
Pierre-Yves Dermagne, the Minister for Employment, also recently announced that unemployed workers will keep a part of their benefits if they switch trades to an understaffed sector.
