Flanders’ labour migration crackdown at odds with OECD recommendations
The Flemish government is introducing stricter labour migration policies aimed at reducing the number of non-EU workers, particularly those with low qualifications. However, a recent OECD report warns that such restrictions could harm Flanders’ economy.
Employment minister Zuhal Demir announced that employers will be required to prioritise hiring from within Flanders before recruiting from outside the EU. While high-skilled migrants will still be welcomed, with faster administrative processing for non-EU work permit applications, the new policy will specifically exclude low-skilled non-EU workers from roles such as cleaners, fast-food staff, and dishwashers. EU workers and seasonal agricultural labourers will remain exempt.
The government thus wants to prioritise local workers to counter rising unemployment and recent collective redundancies. According to Demir, it is essential to “help our own people” before looking abroad. She further emphasised that while Flanders remains open to international top talent, the focus should be on training local workers and utilising the existing regional labour force.
However, the OECD points out that this approach disregards the reality of the Flemish labour market. The report, released in March 2025, highlights that Flanders faces one of the tightest labour markets in Europe and that the region deals with severe shortages across both skilled and unskilled sectors. Despite high employment rates, Flanders is struggling with a mismatch between available jobs and qualified workers, particularly in technical, care, and low-skilled service roles.
The OECD says that improving local employment is important, but stresses that a balanced migration policy is crucial to sustaining Flanders’ economic health. “Given the urgent nature of shortages in the labour market and considering that activation policies and measures encouraging labour mobility take time to have impact, labour migration is expected to become more important over the coming years.”
The OECD recommends that Flanders streamline its migration framework to make it more flexible and efficient, allowing for the faster integration of skilled and unskilled workers alike. Focusing solely on high-skilled migration overlooks the reality that many sectors, such as hospitality and care, continue to face persistent staff shortages and that local recruitment there has already proven insufficient.
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