Since the previous provincial council elections in 2018, the employment rate has risen in all Flemish provinces except Flemish Brabant. West Flanders is doing particularly well. It can boast 82 per cent employed people among 25- to 64-year-olds. That’s good for first place in the ranking. The calculations were made by labour economist Stijn Baert based on European figures.
Flemish Brabant
Here the most striking evolution can be seen since the previous elections. Only five years ago, Flemish Brabant was one of the best performers, and now they are at the very bottom of the ranking of Flemish provinces. Along with Luxembourg Province, Flemish Brabant is also the only Belgian province where the employment rate has fallen rather than risen.
‘The decline also continued every year except in 2019. Still quite striking for a province that 2 decades ago, at the start of this century, was the absolute leader, well ahead of all other provinces,’ Baert underlines.
West Flanders
Just like six years ago, West Flanders is the province with the highest employment rate. ‘In between, there have been a few years when East Flanders did better, but now West Flanders is once again in the lead,’ Baert says. ‘It’s thanks to women, because among men, West Flanders still has to let East Flanders take the lead.’
There is very low inactivity in the province, with barely 16.3 per cent of all 25- to 64-year-olds not working or not looking for a job. This is the lowest figure of any Flemish province.
The chart below shows the percentages per province. The darker bar shows the most recent data, the lower bar the 2018 score. The current average in the European Union is 77.4 per cent, putting Europe between Flemish Brabant and Luxembourg Province.
East Flanders
As in 2018, East Flanders has the very lowest unemployment rate. Less than 1 in 50 East Flemish people aged between 25 and 64 is unemployed. That means: not at work, but looking for a job, and therefore enjoying unemployment benefits.
‘This can be linked to the high level of education in East Flanders. Apart from Flemish and Walloon Brabant, no province has as many inhabitants with a higher education degree. West Flanders does significantly less well in this respect,’ Baert notes.
East Flanders has the highest percentage of working men, just as West Flanders has the highest percentage of working women. ‘Both provinces stand out above the other Flemish provinces in terms of employment rate, you can see a leading group of two provinces.’
Limburg
The province of Limburg is doing very well, says Baert. Years ago, the province was still the weak link in terms of the employment rate, lagging some 10 percentage points behind the best-scoring province. Now it is only 3.7 per cent behind. Limburg has made most progress of all Flemish provinces since the last provincial council elections six years ago.
‘Also if you look at the level of education, you see that Limburg is doing better year after year. There are more and more people with a higher education degree, although there is still margin for improvement here, compared to East Flanders and Flemish Brabant, for example.’
Antwerp
The province of Antwerp is also doing quite well in terms of employment rates. ‘Also striking is the fact that the educational level of the active population has strengthened,’ Baert says. All indicators are green: there are both fewer unemployed and fewer inactive people.
Walloon provinces
The language border is and remains a barrier when it comes to unemployment. ‘In all Flemish provinces, the percentage of benefit-eligible jobseekers among 25- to 64-year-olds is lower than in any Walloon province,’ Baert explains. This was also the case in 2018.
Hainaut stands out: the percentage of jobseekers there remains more than 3 times higher than in East Flanders. On the employment rate list, Hainaut is at the bottom of the list, behind Liège and Namur.
In terms of inactivity (people who do not have a job but are not looking for one either), the picture is more mixed, with Walloon Brabant doing better than 3 of the 5 Flemish provinces.