6.7 million people are of working age in Belgium; yet of those 1,667,000 are inactive, suggest figures from Statbel analysed by La Libre. The employment rate is a long way from the 80% goal that the current government set for 2030.
Yet the National Bank of Belgium announced on Wednesday that employment had grown by 86,000 in 2021 despite the hardships of the pandemic and the economic contraction it brought about.
There are 650,000 inactive people in Wallonia, including 130,000 unemployed. This brings the employment rate to 65.2% compared to 64.6% in 2020. However, the Brussels region isn't doing much better, with an employment rate of 62.2%, while Flanders outpaces the European average by 3%, at 75.3%.
The gap between the north and south of Belgium has increased since the 1980s, growing from 5% in 1982 to 8.5% in 2002 before arriving at 10.1% in 2022.
