Unemployment continues to rise in Flanders

Unemployment in Flanders continues to rise, figures from the employment agency VDAB showed on Tuesday. Unemployment was almost consistently higher in 2024 than in the previous year, and this trend continued in 2025.
At the end of January, there were 214,869 job seekers in Flanders, an increase of 4,500 people or 2 percent compared to January 2024. Just over half of these jobseekers are receiving or applying for unemployment benefits.
About 42 per cent are former inactive persons, such as people receiving sickness benefits, and 5 per cent are young people in vocational integration periods. The latter category saw the largest increase, with a rise of 6 per cent.
'Far from labour market'
According to the VDAB, more than half of all jobseekers, a total of 120,048 people, are considered to be "far from the labour market". Their chances of finding a job within six months are relatively low, often due to health or social problems that need to be addressed first.
The unemployment rate in Flanders is now 6.8 per cent, compared with 6.7 per cent in January last year, according to VDAB.
#FlandersNewsService | © BELGA PHOTO DAVID STOCKMAN
Related news