Employment and unemployment | Statbel
- ️Thu Dec 12 2024
Among 15-24-year-olds active in the Belgian labour market, almost a fifth, or 19.9%, were unemployed in the third quarter of 2024. In the third quarter of 2023, it was 18.7%, and 16.1% in the second quarter of 2024. The increase is a result of new graduates actively looking for jobs. This is what emerged from the latest results of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) published by Statbel, the Belgian statistical office.
The overall ILO unemployment rate is also rising, from 5.4% in the second quarter to 6% in third quarter. The Belgian employment rate remains fairly stable in the third quarter, at 72.3%, compared to the second quarter. The number of employed people in the third quarter 2024 is estimated at 5,069,000 and the number of ILO unemployed people at 320,000.
You will find more details below, with the evolutions per gender, age group, region and level of education.
72.3% of people aged 20-64 are employed
In the third quarter of 2024, the employment rate of people aged 20 to 64 is estimated at 72.3%, a figure only slightly different from that of the second quarter 2024 (72.2%). In absolute terms, this means that in the third quarter of 2024, about 4,896,000 people aged 20 to 64 were in work in Belgium. If we look at the population aged 15 and over, this is 5,069,000 employed people.
The employment rate of men is 76.7% and that of women is, as always, slightly lower: 68.0% (Chart 1). So the employment rate remains fairly stable for both men and women.
By age, we see few significant evolutions in the employment rate (Chart 2). The percentage remains fairly stable for both the 20-54 and the 55-64 age groups: 76.1% and 59.5% respectively.
By region, too, we see no significant evolutions in the employment rate (Chart 3). In Flanders, it is estimated at 76.3%, versus 76.2% in the previous quarter. In Wallonia, it is 67.6% versus 68.1% in the previous quarter. In Brussels, the employment rate increased from 63.7% in the second quarter to 65.4% in the third quarter.
The employment rate of low-, medium- and highly-skilled people amounts to 47.3%, 68.0% and 86.2% respectively (Chart 4).
The unemployment rate amounts to 6%
The ILO unemployment rate increased from 5.4% to 6% between the second and third quarters of 2024. The increase is stronger among women than men, narrowing again the unemployment rate gap between the two genders (Chart 5). The unemployment rate amounts to 5.8% for women and 6.1% for men.
In absolute terms, there were about 320,000 ILO unemployed in the third quarter 2024: 145,000 women and 175,000 men.
The unemployment rate of young people (15-24 years old), which often peaks in a third quarter as recent graduates actively look for work, rises from 16.1% to 19.9% between the second and the third quarter of 2024 (Chart 6). That figure is still 1.2 percentage points higher than in the same period last year. Note that students who are neither working nor looking for work are not included in the unemployed population but in the inactive population.
The two other age groups are less subject to fluctuations than the youngest age group. The unemployment rate amounts to 5.3% in the 25-49 age group, and among people over 50, 3.1% of the active population is ILO unemployed.
In Flanders, the unemployment rate rises from 3.4% in the second quarter to 4.3% in the third quarter of 2024 (Chart 7). In Wallonia, the unemployment rate is estimated at 7.5% versus 6.8% in the previous quarter. In Brussels, it goes from 12.3% to 11.1% over the same period.
Looking at the evolutions by level of education, the ILO unemployment rate of low-skilled people increases from 11.4% to 14.1% between the second and the third quarter of 2024. Among the medium- and highly-skilled, we see much less movement in the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate in the labour force is 6.8% among medium-skilled people and 3.1% among highly-skilled people (Chart 8).
Transitions on the labour market
Based on the panel data available to the Labour Force Survey, we can also observe shifts or transitions in the labour market status of individuals. So we see that the number of unemployed people who remained unemployed between the third quarter 2023 and the third quarter 2024 is remarkably high this quarter. More information is available here.
Methodological note
The reported figures are estimations based on a sample survey. They are based on an effective sample of 27,000 persons (respondents) between 15 and 89 years old in the third quarter of 2024. This represents about 13,200 respondents in Flanders, 10,500 in Wallonia and 3,300 in Brussels.
The Labour Force Survey is a continuous survey, which means that the sample is evenly spread over the 52 (reference) weeks of the year. The selected respondents answer a questionnaire mainly related to their activity in the course of a given reference week. The data presented here reflect the averages for the quarter.
As the LFS questionnaire has changed since the first quarter of 2021, as have the ILO definitions on employment and unemployment, the charts presented here start from the first quarter of 2021 (and not earlier because there is a break between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021).
In spite of the large sample on which the figures are based, one has to take into account (as with all results based on a sample) a certain degree of uncertainty regarding the estimated figures. In order to increase readability, reference is not always made to whether or not certain evolutions are significant. However, it should be borne in mind that small evolutions from one quarter to another are usually not significant. Therefore, we recommend to assess the trends over several quarters, based on the reasoning that certain random sampling fluctuations are less visible in this way.
The confidence intervals for the employment and unemployment rates are available in annexes 1 and 2.
Definitions
The survey is harmonised at European level. The definitions regarding employment and unemployment that are mentioned (see tab ‘documents’) are those of the International Labour Office (ILO) to allow international comparison.
The employment rate of people aged 20-64 is the share of persons employed in the total population aged 20 to 64.
The unemployment rate of people aged 15-64 is the share of unemployed people in the labour force (employed + unemployed) aged 15 to 64.
Low-skilled people are people who have at most a lower secondary education diploma. Medium-skilled people are people who obtained a diploma of upper secondary education but not of higher education. Highly-skilled people obtained a diploma of higher education.
Annex 1: Confidence intervals for the employment rate of people aged 20-64 (Q3 2024)
| Estimate Q3 2024 | Confidence interval | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower limit | Upper limit | ||
| Belgium | 72.3% | 71.5% | 73.1% |
| Men | 76.7% | 75.7% | 77.6% |
| Women | 68.0% | 66.9% | 69.1% |
| Brussels-Capital Region | 65.4% | 63.1% | 67.7% |
| Flemish Region | 76.3% | 75.2% | 77.3% |
| Walloon Region | 67.6% | 66.2% | 69.0% |
| 20-54 years old | 76.1% | 75.2% | 77.0% |
| 55-64 years old | 59.5% | 58.0% | 61.1% |
| Low-skilled people | 47.3% | 45.1% | 49.4% |
| Medium-skilled people | 68.0% | 66.8% | 69.3% |
| Highly-skilled people | 86.2% | 85.3% | 87.1% |
Annex 2: Confidence intervals for the unemployment rate of people aged 15-64 (Q3 2024)
| Estimate Q3 2024 | Confidence interval | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower limit | Upper limit | ||
| Belgium | 6.0% | 5.4% | 6.5% |
| Men | 6.1% | 5.4% | 6.8% |
| Women | 5.8% | 5.1% | 6.5% |
| Brussels-Capital Region | 11.1% | 9.3% | 12.9% |
| Flemish Region | 4.3% | 3.7% | 4.9% |
| Walloon Region | 7.5% | 6.4% | 8.5% |
| 15-24 years old | 19.9% | 16.7% | 23.0% |
| 25-49 years old | 5.3% | 4.7% | 6.0% |
| 50-64 years old | 3.1% | 2.6% | 3.7% |
| Low-skilled people | 14.1% | 12.0% | 16.2% |
| Medium-skilled people | 6.8% | 5.9% | 7.8% |
| Highly-skilled people | 3.1% | 2.6% | 3.6% |