Labour market situation in the country

Walloon Region

Wallonia is facing a paradoxical situation characterized by a high number of job vacancies and an employment rate well below the European target of 80% by 2030.

The reasons:

• A large inactive population and an untapped labor reserve, including a high proportion of long-term unemployed individuals (45% of job seekers have been without employment for more than two years).
• A concerning youth unemployment rate, reaching 23%.

In 2024, the number of job vacancies is close to 40,000 positions, while the inactive labor reserve exceeds 244,000 job seekers.

The employment rate of 20–64-year-olds in Wallonia (67.1%) remains lower than the Belgian average (72.3%), the European average (75.8% for the EU-27), and the Flemish rate (76.9%). However, since this year, it is once again higher than the rate observed in Brussels (64.1%). 

According to "Key Figures for Wallonia – 2025 Edition" from IWEPS (Institut Wallon de l'évaluation, de la prospective et de la statistique), "the most important sectors in terms of workforce volume in Wallonia (over 10% of total domestic employment) are, in decreasing order: Public administration, defence, education, human health and social work activities (35%); Wholesale and retail trade, transportation, accommodation and food service activities, and administrative and support service activities (19%); and manufacturing, mining and quarrying, and other industries (11%). In Wallonia, as in the rest of the country, the vast majority of workers are employees: 82% compared with 18% who are self-employed or assisting workers" (pp. 118).

Young people in the labour market

According to the report  "Key Figures for Wallonia – 2025 Edition", the transition from education to the labor market for young people requires particular attention. In 2024, just over two-thirds (69%) of 18- to 24-year-olds—those beyond compulsory schooling—were enrolled in an education or training program, while 31% were no longer pursuing any form of learning. Among those who had left education, more than half were employed, with the remainder divided between unemployment and inactivity.

A quarter of these young people who are no longer in education did not obtain an upper secondary diploma. They fall into the category of “early leavers from education and training,” an indicator included in the Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to reduce this rate to 0% by 2030. In 2024, these early leavers represented 8.1% of the 18–24 age group. Although the overall trend has been declining for several years, the latest data suggest a slight increase compared to the previous year. Significant gender differences persist, both in Wallonia and other regions, with early school leaving more common among boys than girls.

In 2024, young people who were neither in employment, education, nor training (known as “NEETs”) accounted for 13.1% of those aged 15–29 and 13.0% of those aged 18–24. Among NEETs aged 18–24, roughly half were actively seeking work, while the other half were inactive. For some of these young people, leaving education was likely very recent, meaning they were only at the beginning of their job search. It is worth noting that 43% of NEETs in this age group did not hold an upper secondary diploma. 

Youth unemployment remains very high in Wallonia: in 2024, 22.3% of young people entering the labor market were without a job. The denominator used to calculate the unemployment rate is the active population, not the population of working age. For young people, this denominator is relatively small because many are still in education. Moreover, those who enter the labor market early are generally the least qualified. These two factors help explain why the youth unemployment rate is so high.

Region of Brussels-Capital

The Region of Brussels-Capital has a small, dynamic and strong labour market. The service sector represents more than 90% of the employment. Many services, including administrations (European, Federal, Regional) and headquarters of Belgian and foreign enterprises are located in Brussels.

Main concepts

In Belgium, the working-age population is between 15 and 64 years old. 

Youth employment lies within the general employment policy. There is no national definition of youth employment. The employment public service “Forem” considers youth population aged under 25 as a target group for statistics. Measures targeting young people in order to increase youth employment affect young people under 30 years old at most.

However, as every worker is protected by labour laws, specific rules aimed at protecting young workers exist. These rules appear in the Labour Law and the Law related to well-being at work.

In Belgium, Law allows a person to work from the age of 15 years old. The Labour Law defines « young workers» as workers aged between 15 and 18 years old (this limit can be extended to 21 in some cases) who are not subject to compulsory full-time schooling anymore.

For information:

• Full-time schooling is compulsory up to the age of 15 and consists of maximum 7 years of elementary school and the two first years of secondary school.
• Part-time schooling is compulsory until the age of 18.

Young workers are allowed to work 8 hours a day at most and 40 hours a week.

“Young workers” as understood by the Labour Law can work, volunteer or do an internship on condition that specific protective measures affecting their security, well-being and occupational medicine are taken. These measures are more strict than the one applicable to average workers and are ruled by the Law related to well-being at work.