Nearly 20,000 Ukrainians are registered with Belgium's regional employment agencies (Actiris, Forem or the VDAB) but only a few thousand have landed a job in Belgium, reports Le Soir.
Of the 72,000 Ukrainians who benefit from temporary protection in Belgium, just under 20,000 are officially job seekers in the country. This low figure is largely explained by two lesser-reported realities: many refugees in Belgium telework for their company in Ukraine; those now in Belgium often find work through their own network.
It is also important to note that almost 40% of refugees are children or senior citizens and therefore are not trying to find work.
Le Soir notes that the proportion of Ukrainian refugees that have entered Belgium's labour market is rising. In Brussels, Actiris observes that the increase in the number of unemployed in the Brussels capital virtually corresponds to the number of Ukrainians who have registered over the last twelve months.
Regardless of the region, the obstacles faced by Ukrainians searching for a job are the same: namely, language barriers and the difficulty in recognising qualifications obtained in Ukraine.
While almost half of those registered with job-search assistance bodies hold a higher education diploma (bachelor’s or master’s degree), 98% of these diplomas are not recognised here.
