The number of jobless persons receiving unemployment benefits in Belgium in December 2019 was 314,140, the National Employment Office (ONEM) reported on Monday.
This was 13,263 less than one year before, according to ONEM, adding that unemployment went down in Flanders and Wallonia, but remained stable in Brussels: there were 124,181 unemployed people in Flanders (-6,384), 128,358 (-6,511) in Wallonia, and 61,601 (+1) in Brussels at the end of last year.
Jobless persons under the age of 25 numbered 23,387 countrywide. The largest number - 11,806 – was in Wallonia, 9,136 were in Flanders and 2,445 in Brussels.
Unemployment among people above the age of 50 was down by 1,824 units in Flanders, where it directly affected 52,083 persons, and by 1,192 units in Wallonia (44,585). On the other hand, it increased, by 641 units, in Brussels (20,847).
By last month, 151,468 persons had been unemployed for two years: 61,967 (-4,329) in Wallonia, 52,688 (-3,638) in Flanders and 36,813 (-262) in Brussels.
More than half of the unemployed persons in Brussels have been jobless for two years or more.
The Brussels Times
