Flemish labour Minister Zuhal Demir (nationalist N-VA) wants to reduce the number of professions on the occupational shortage list that allow easy recruitment from outside the EU, daily De Tijd reports. Truck and bus drivers as well as plumbers are among the jobs set to disappear from the list.
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Labour minister Demir wants to cut professions for which you can easily hire non-EU workers
Colin Clapson
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Last year, the government issued a record number of combined work and residence permits for non-EU workers: nearly 19,000. That’s almost 70 per cent higher than the five-year average.
A draft ministerial decree reveals Ms Demir now wants to bring that figure down by cutting the “migration list”. If a profession is on that list, employers who want to bring workers to Flanders do not have to try and recruit on the domestic labour market first. To fill job vacancies not on the list the Flemish government insists that employers first search for a suitable profile in Belgium or elsewhere in the EU for 9 weeks.
11 jobs of the 29 currently on the occupational shortage list are being dropped, including truck driver, coach and bus driver, plumber, butcher, baker, drill operator, lift installer and floor tiler. Ms Demir’s reasoning is that there are enough jobseekers and inactive people for these occupational groups to be filled by EU workers.
At the same time, she is adding 5 professions, including asbestos remover, data communication networks installer and installations operator in the chemicals sector to the list.
"A retrograde step"
The Belgian Federation of Bus and Coach Drivers (FBAA) is among those unhappy with Ms Demir's plans. ‘Bus and coach drivers have long been recognised as a shortage profession and since 2023 as a serious shortage profession,’ says CEO Pieter Van Bastelaere. "We are still looking for 600 people to fill our vacancies, including for subcontractors of De Lijn. We are also looking for port transport staff as well as drivers for pharmaceutical clusters. For us to be taken off that list is a step backwards."
"Today we simply cannot find the people in Flanders, which means we have to start looking in other countries, including outside the EU. We have already found dozens of drivers in this way, people who are willing to come to Flanders and work here as bus and coach drivers."
"If we are taken off that list of serious shortage occupations, it will be much more difficult for us to bring people to Flanders to fill those vacancies. So for us, it is important to stay on the list."