More than half of job seekers in Flanders do not have a driving licence
More than half of job seekers in Flanders do not hold a category B driving licence. The news was reported on Wednesday by Het Nieuwsblad.
"It's downright problematic," said Flemish MP Robrecht Bothuyne (CD&V), who requested the data from Flemish employment minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA). The figures show that 51,600 men and 58,300 women, a total of 53 per cent of the approximately 215,000 registered job seekers with the Flemish Employment Service (VDAB), do not have a driving licence.
Bothuyne noted that former employment minister Hilde Crevits (CD&V) had previously allocated funding for the VDAB’s "Alle Hens aan Dek" ("All Hands on Deck") project. The initiative allowed job seekers to obtain a category B licence if they had a job opportunity that required one. Over three years, nearly 1,600 people took part. However, the training courses for a B licence have since been cut.
Demir responded that the project had been a temporary measure which expired automatically. "So the initiative hasn't been scrapped. The coalition agreement didn't provide any additional resources to structurally anchor this, which CD&V didn't request either," she said. She also pointed out that there had been no monitoring of how many participants actually obtained their licence.
#FlandersNewsService | © BELGA PHOTO MARK RENDERS
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