Flemish employment services launch new campaign to attract Brussels jobseekers
Employment services VDAB and Actiris are launching a new campaign to attract Brussels jobseekers to Flanders for work. The campaign targets both Flemish employers and unemployed people from Brussels.
The issue has been known for years: Brussels is struggling with many young jobseekers, while in the Flemish periphery around the capital there are thousands of vacancies. Several efforts have been made in recent years to attract more Brussels residents to Flanders.
Every day, 53,400 Brussels residents go to work in Flanders: over 9,000 more than ten years ago. That number could be a lot higher, according to the employment services. Brussels counted more than 9,600 jobseekers under the age of 25 at the beginning of this month, while there are more than 5,100 vacancies in the Brussels Periphery (the 19 Flemish municipalities that encircle the Brussels-Capital Region). Flemish Work minister Jo Brouns wants the number of Brussels residents working in Flanders to increase by 2,000 a year, he stated before the summer.
VDAB notes that there are not enough Flemish jobseekers to fill all vacancies in the Periphery. "Brussels has the largest and closest pool of labour market reserve for employers in Flemish Brabant," the organization said on Wednesday. The campaign aims to encourage employers to also look to that region for potential candidates. Advertisements and testimonials will be spread on social and digital media.
To make the integration of Brussels jobseekers run smoothly, Actiris and VDAB offer various tailor-made solutions. They guide employers in their search, but also offer tailor-made training (both Dutch courses and technical training) and support workplace learning through Individual Vocational Training (IBO) - with or without language support. Brussels jobseekers are often short-skilled profiles who do not always speak Dutch well. But learning the language should also be possible on the shop floor, Brouns said earlier.
(TOM)
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