The Unemployment rate of Belgium attained a value of 5.52 % in 2024
The indicator recorded a historical change (bps difference) of 78 bps between 2021 to 2024, and is expected to decline by...
GlobalData projects the figure to change by 21 bps between 2025 and 2029, reaching...
Unemployment
Unemployment is a term used to describe people who are actively looking for work but are unable to find one. The unemployment rate is derived by dividing the total number of unemployed persons by the total number of people in a certain region or workforce. It is one of the most important markers of a country's economic health.
Global Unemployment
As per the International Labour Organization, the average regional unemployment rate at the end of 2021 has been estimated at 9.6%, which represents an improvement from the 10.6% it reached in 2020, but a setback compared to the 8% that was recorded for 2019, which in this case is used as a reference to calculate the impact of two years of the pandemic.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), April 2022 published its February 2022 unemployment figures: the unemployment rate in the OECD areas dropped below the pre-pandemic rate. This is the lowest level since the start of this data series in 2001. The number of unemployed workers in the OECD area also continued to fall, reaching 34.9 million, 0.7 million below its pre-pandemic level.
Unemployment Rate of Belgium
The unemployment rate in Belgium in 2021 stood at 6.3%. Between 2018-2021, the unemployment rate in Belgium was highest in 2021 at 6.3% and lowest in 2019 at 5.3%. The unemployment rate increased by 13.5% on a year-on-year basis in 2021 and increased by 5.9% between 2018-2021.
The unemployment rate in Belgium increased to 6.3% in 2021, due to mass retrenchments amid COVID-19. The unemployment rate is expected to gradually decline as the Belgian economy inches closer to the pre-pandemic economic growth level. GlobalData forecasts the total unemployment to marginally decrease to 6.2% in 2022. The expiry of some support measures and a possible increase in the level of bankruptcies represent a risk for growth and employment.
The continued dominance of labor unions in matters of wage fixation has reduced the labor market’s flexibility, which led to the co-existence of high wages and high unemployment rates in some sectors.
Factors that Cause Unemployment
Recession, government policies, geographical labor mobility, technological advancements, global economy, expanding population, and education, training, and skill development of workers are some of the primary elements that influence unemployment in a country.
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