In light of Monday's Labour Day national holiday, Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon in a statement emphasised the economic performance of Flanders relative to Belgium's other regions.
Jambon's message, no doubt calculated to promote his party's separatist agenda, highlighted employment rate and economic indicators that are in the green in Flanders, unlike the country’s other two regions.
The stance seeks to counterbalance the traditional May Day speeches of socialist parties on a day punctuated by trade unions holding customary strikes. “I read a lot of articles with catastrophic messages. But if you look at Flanders in particular, the figures are often much better than what you read. There are a lot of societal problems that we have to tackle but that doesn’t stop there being positive elements that we have to dare to see.”
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In particular, Jambon pointed to the Flemish employment rate, which reached a record high of 76.7% last year. “That is 11 percentage points higher than the Walloon Region and the Brussels Region. And also 2 points higher than the European average."
“Employment is and remains the most structural and sustainable way out of poverty. In this respect too, Flanders is doing well. The risk of poverty or social exclusion in Flanders has fallen from 15 to 16% in 2010-2016 to 11.2% in 2022. This is two to three times lower than in the Walloon and Brussels Regions, and also half the European average.”
