Youth unemployment in Brussels has increased by 12.8% compared to July last year, with 8,073 young people (adults under-25) currently without work, the Brussels employment service, Actiris, announced on Friday.
The almost 13% increase from 2022 is the highest for this age group, partly because there are 10%-20% fewer job vacancies – but also due to global factors such as rampant inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"In times of crisis, there are fewer opportunities for young people with less experience," Jan Gatz of Actiris said on Flemish radio on Friday morning. "We see this with every crisis. It was the same with the banking crisis 15 years ago."
After-effects
Employers are less likely to hire young people or they will postpone those hires, he explained. "The good news is as soon as the economic engine starts running again, young people are the first to be hired again."
Gatz also pointed to a second and third cause. "Many Ukrainian jobseekers have come to register, and there is also an 'after-effect' of the Covid-19 period: many young people then chose to extend their studies. They have now enrolled as well."
Still, there are a lot of vacancies in the Brussels periphery; Gatz argued that multilingualism is a great asset. "One of the best investments is to learn a second (national) language (Dutch/French). One in two job vacancies calls for it. Another good investment is a higher degree or training in one of the many bottleneck professions like education, healthcare or engineering."
A positive note is that the increase in unemployment figures is, for now, limited to short-term unemployment – less than a year. Additionally, the figures are relatable if we look at the past, Gatz said.
"Taken over a ten-year period, youth unemployment is still relatively low. In July 2013, for instance, the Brussels-Capital Region still had 14,005 jobseekers, where today there are 8,073."
