Belgium continues to score the lowest among European countries in the integration of foreign nationals into the national economy.
Progress has been made in the last ten years, but it has been very slow and remains vulnerable, according to the fifth socio-economic monitoring report by the Federal Public Service Employment agency and the Centre for Equal Opportunities, UNIA.
The employment rate for non-EU nationals in Europe is nowhere as low as it is in Belgium. In 2020, it was barely 40%, according to Eurostat, the European statistical office. By way of comparison, France's non-EU employment rate was higher than 50%, while those of the Netherlands and Germany were higher than 55%.
The gap in the employment rates between nationals (73%) and non-nationals is nowhere as wide as in Belgium, except for the Netherlands.
The highest employment rate among non-EU citizens was recorded in the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Poland.
The monitoring report notes that the difference in labour market position is not only quantitative, but also qualitative. Persons of foreign origin end up more often in less good jobs with lower status (temporary or part-time work) and lower wages, jobs that are less well adapted to their qualifications. They are also more often unemployed.
This secondary labour market is growing, while the primary labour market, with stable and well-paid jobs, has shrunk in recent years. Even with equal qualifications, there is still a gap between Belgians and people of foreign origin. For example, for a master's degree in health care - which has the highest employment rate - the difference is more than 12%.
The report speaks of "persistent ethnostratification" and "structural discrimination" in the Belgian labour market.
Acquiring Belgian nationality does have a favorable effect on labour market participation, although the exact reason for this remains unclear.
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One bright spot: the position of foreigners has improved over the past 10 years, as has the Belgian labour market as a whole. Their employment rate has increased, and people of foreign origin also find their way more often to better jobs, although this does not apply to all groups.
"In a tighter labour market, there appears to be more room for people of foreign origin. The structural changes that the Belgian economy is undergoing, such as gradual de-industrialisation, decline in government jobs and shifts within the service sectors, appear to strengthen their relative position," says in the report.
The problem is that progress is fragile: in both the financial crisis of 2008 and the Corona crisis in 2020, people of non-EU origin were more affected than Belgians. Their employment rate decreased more than among Belgians, and in the third quarter, it was still lower than in 2019.
Recovery is also slowing down. “However, [...] we suspect that later phases of the revival will provide more opportunities for people of foreign origin, as job growth may well be in sectors where, in practice, it appears easier for them to find a job and because bottlenecks arise that make the barriers somewhat less high," according to the report.
Moreover, the crisis in Ukraine following Russia's invasion has not yet been taken into account.
The report also makes some recommendations, such as the creation of more jobs, stronger productivity growth and greater mobility in the labour market.
The researchers also argue that the quality differences between the primary and secondary labour market should be reduced in order to improve throughput. A vigorous anti-discrimination policy must be pursued, in combination with a diversity policy. Practice tests and data mining can help in this regard.
Stronger education, with equal opportunities for everyone, is also an absolute necessity. A good 72% of Belgians now obtain their higher secondary diploma without any delays, compared to 40% for people of foreign origin.
Finally, the report argues for a strong integration policy.
