More than half of the first wave of people who lost unemployment benefits following the federal government’s reform of the system are getting benefits elsewhere, while less than one in 10 are back in the workforce
Dossier
Labour minister calls 10% of long-term unemployed now back at work “encouraging”
Lisa Bradshaw
Published:
Less than one in 10 people who lost their unemployment benefits in the first quarter of this year due to the federal government reforms have found work. More than half of the group are now receiving either sickness benefits from a mutuality or are on welfare via Belgium’s OCMW.
Labour minister David Clarinval (MR) is quite satisfied with these figures. “These are people who were unemployed for more than eight years and so were the most disconnected from the workforce,” he says. “Considering that, I find nearly 10% back at work in fact encouraging.”
The number of people back in the workforce is 4,200. “For those people, the loss of unemployment benefits was apparently an encouragement to find a job,” says Clarinval.
By the end of the year, I expect that some one-third will be back in the workforce Labour minister David Clarinval
As the next wave of people start to lose their benefits, these figures will improve, he explains. “By the end of the year, I expect that some one-third will be back in the workforce. This is about thousands and thousands of people who would otherwise still be receiving benefits.”
According to Ghent University labour economics professor Stijn Baert, this is not just spin. “This is a very specific group of people,” he says, who will find it much harder to get back into the workforce than the next wave who have been unemployed for a shorter period of time.
Baert is more critical about how many people are now relying on other kinds of benefits. The government “closed the door to long-term unemployment benefits but left the door unattended – or opened it wider – when it comes to sickness benefits and welfare,” he says.
During this transitional period, the federal government is contributing more towards the payment of welfare benefits. “This means that the more benefits the OCMWs provide, the more federal funds they distribute without having to bear the cost themselves,” Baert continues. “But in reality, the opposite approach should have been taken: Municipalities that do more to activate and reintegrate people into the workforce should have received more resources.”
The rest of the first wave of people to lose unemployment benefits – 37% – have simply fallen off the radar. “This is perhaps where the government’s predictions were the most correct,” says Baert. “This is about people who, for instance, have a partner who is working and therefore don’t have the right to welfare benefits. This is where the greatest savings is to be found: You rescind benefits without people receiving other benefits to replace them.”
But that’s not the ultimate goal, he notes. “It’s of course better that people join the workforce because then they become taxpayers.”