Europe: For those born outside of Belgium and are also looking for a jobs in the nation, insufficient knowledge of one of the nation’s official languages is the main obstacle to looking for a job.
Not having a grasp of one of the national languages of Belgium, Dutch, French, or German, is the biggest barrier for non-Belgians in finding a job, as per the new data from Statbel, which is the Belgian statistics office, based on the Labour Force Survey of 29,000 people. The problem affects people in Flanders and the employed and inactive people most.
It has been highlighted in the report that “19 percent of the unemployed and 11 percent of the inactive people born abroad state that they do not have sufficient information of one of the official languages in the nation and therefore experience difficulties in finding a job.”
In Wallonia, the level of knowledge of one of the national languages is the highest, with almost 80 percent indicating it is their mother tongue or that they have advanced knowledge of it. In the Brussels – Capital Region, it is about 60 percent, and in Flanders about 45 percent.
The maximum number of individuals with little to no knowledge of a national language is also by far the highest in the Flemish Region (33 percent, compared to 17 percent in the Brussels -Capital Region and 9 percent in the Walloon Region).
Overall Europe, a lack of language skills in the host nation’s language was also the most commonly reported obstacle, especially among people born outside the European Union, as per the Eurostat survey on which the statbel report was based.
Along with this, Belgium is seeking to attract more foreign workers by creating more flexible rules and regulations for foreign nationals to do jobs and reside in the nation in order to tackle the chronic labour shortage.
