The Flemish employment agency VDAB has used artificial intelligence to fathom how many jobseekers stand a chance of finding work within the next six months. The results from the AI model were rather disheartening. When the model was applied to jobseekers’ profiles it showed that of the 213,000 jobseekers in Flanders only 18 per cent stand a reasonable chance of finding gainful employment within six months.
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Employment agency enlists AI to see how many jobseekers will find a job soon
Colin Clapson
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At the end of August, 213,429 jobseekers – unemployed people both receiving and not receiving unemployment benefit - were registered with the VDAB. Using AI the Flemish employment agency looked at how quickly people in this group will be able to find work.
VDAB mediators' assessments, jobseekers' needs for services and the AI calculation were all taken into account. The AI model uses data including the jobseeker's age, work experience, current and previous unemployment periods, job wishes, language skills, etc.
Results provide food for thought
The VDAB calculations suggest that 18 per cent of jobseekers have a more than 50% chance of finding work within the next six months.
But for 56 per cent of jobseekers the chance of finding work within the next six months is estimated at less than 35 per cent. 'Moreover, people in that group may also face ‘health or welfare issues that need to be tackled first,’ the VDAB says.
It is not the first time the VDAB has used AI, says spokeswoman Joke Van Bommel. The agency explains it now simply wants to be more transparent in its communication.
Ms Van Bommel also stresses that an ethics panel watched over the job seekers' privacy and that everything is done according to GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) rules.
‘We only use data for which we have permission,’ she noted. The results will be used to prioritise and help to identify who has the highest need for counselling.
Number of jobseekers increases
Between July and August, the number of Flemish jobseekers without work increased by almost 5,000.
Some 18,000 jobseekers disappeared from the figures: three quarters of them started work, the remaining quarter signed out due to retirement, illness or other non-employment related activities.
At the same time, 22,700 new jobseekers entered the figures. A third of these people were previously not active on the labour market.
The report puts the jobseeker ratio at 6.7 per cent in August. The ratio that reflects the number of jobseekers without work in Flanders to the Flemish working population is as high as a year earlier when it stood at 6.6 per cent.