More than 1 in 4 young foreign workers in Belgium feels overqualified and over-skilled for their job according to recent analysis by Statbel.
27.1% of EU workers in Belgium aged 15-34 report having a higher skill level for their job and 23.9% say they have a higher level of education.
The figures for skills (26.8%) and levels of education (25%) are similar for young non-EU workers in Belgium.
Meanwhile one in five of all young people in Belgium has a job below their skill and qualification level. The analysis reveals the levels of wasted young talent in Belgium with little change since 2016.
In that year around 20% of young workers in Belgium reported no match between their job and their level of education.
In France, the figure was 24%, but in Germany and the Netherlands it was just 6%. This was according to Eurostat which found that, across the EU at the time, around 16% of young people worked in jobs that did not fit their qualification level.
Closing the gap
Looking at the statistics, "the vast majority are OK" notes Thierry Geerts CEO of Employers' body Beci. However, he highlights the mismatch between the education and employment system and calls on employers to change their approach to recruiting young foreign talent.
Geerts acknowledges the challenges young foreign workers would face in establishing equivalence of qualifications, as well as their lack of networks compared to Belgian workers. However, he called on employers to "open their mind on diversity if they want to hire people and access the full talent pool".
He gave the example of a Ukrainian who could speak English and French as someone with a clear ability to learn a language. Not speaking Flemish doesn't mean they wouldn't be able to learn it quickly, "big companies have hiring procedures that make it difficult for excellent talent to enter" he suggested.
Statabel's analysis shows that 44.2% of cleaners, laborers, food preparers, and others in so-called elementary occupations report being overqualified for their jobs.
Meanwhile, the latest job vacancy rate in Belgium is 4.1%, the second highest in the EU after the Netherlands. Statbel data shows this vacancy rate to be concentrated mainly in Flanders.
Giving young workers more opportunities while studying
"What is concerning is education is not adapted to the job market" said Geerts. The CEO, representing the business community in Brussels, viewed the education system as being high quality but a "bit old school, barely adapted for the digital revolution".
In his view, Belgium's approach to one-week observation internships as part of education needed to change. Geerts points to the Netherlands where 3 months is the norm. In Belgium "people finish their degrees without any experience in companies".
Eurostat figures show working while studying increases the chance of finding a job later. The unemployment rate is higher for young people who have no work experience while learning, and lower for those that do.
In 2016, the latest year the figures are available, just over 20% of young people in the Netherlands said they had no work experience during education, while in Belgium the figure was almost half of all young people.
