Almost 27,000 long-term unemployed in Brussels risk losing benefits

Controversy is continuing over Belgium’s plans to cut unemployment benefit for anyone remaining out of work for more than two years. This proposal, part of the unemployment reform law, is one main reason for the country’s recent strike wave.

Belgium is currently one of the only European countries that does not issue limits on the time eligible to unemployment benefits.

Today, jobseekers receive 65% of their last salary, including a lower and upper limit on payments, which decreases over time.

The amount of social benefits received also varies, depending on the claimant’s family situation and employment history.

Under the new law, those who have worked for at least one out of the last three years can receive unemployment benefit for a year. Each additional four months of work will mean an extra month of unemployment benefits, up to a maximum of two years.

This means that benefits claimants who have not held down a job for a long time may find that their payments will soon be cut.

There is much opposition to this key plan of Belgian prime minister Bart de Wever’s new Arizona coalition government to reduce Belgium’s budget deficit, which reached 4.2% of GDP in 2023. The claims cap is predicted to reap the government €902 million in 2026, increasing to €1.9 billion by 2029.

Coalition partners CD&V and Vooruit say exceptions to this rule must be made for sectors finding it difficult to recruit staff.

Specifically, they want to extend the time limit of two years before benefits are cut for those training for careers in these areas, as some of these training programmes take up to four years to complete.

While federal minister for employment, economy and agriculture, David Clarinval hopes to see the law passed before the summer, Belgium’s national employment office Onem has noted that there are currently 100,000 people under 55 (the over-55s are exempt) who have been unemployed for at least two years, including nearly 27,000 Brussels residents.

“We asked the Onem how many people have been unemployed for two years," Clarinval. "There are around 100,000 - 26,656 in Flanders, 46,199 in Wallonia and 26,866 in Brussels - and almost one in two has been unemployed for five years. This is what led this government to decide on a major reform."

French-speaking Belgium will be most affected by the policy change. Nearly half the unemployed come from Wallonia, with Flanders and Brussels making up a quarter each.

For Clarinval, while Wallonia is statistically Belgium’s poorest region, the unemployment figures have "a lot to do with mentality", adding: "In Wallonia, there are people celebrating their 20th year of unemployment. But unemployment is not a career."

As it stands, the 100,102 people unemployed for more than two years risk being immediately without benefits when the reform law comes into force. However, transitional measures are being negotiated, Clarinval said.

The Onem also says that the figures do not necessarily reflect the number of unemployed who will lose their benefit right. For example, it is not yet known exactly how the duration of unemployment will be calculated, and how exceptions or professional history will be treated.

In Brussels, 26,866 unemployed people are at risk of losing their benefits. Most of them live in the City of Brussels: some 5,023 people. In second place is Schaerbeek with 3,115 people, followed by Anderlecht with 3,047 and Molenbeek with 2,606.

Forest has 1,671 potential benefit losers, Saint-Gilles 1,616 and Ixelles 1,766. From eighth to 12h place, Uccle, Brussels’ largest commune, has 1,298 unemployed who may lose their benefits, and Jette numbers 1,090. Brussels’ smallest commune, Saint-Josse, registers 820, Evere 772 and in Etterbeek, some 770 people look set to lose benefits.

Finally, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert has 590 residents liable to lose unemployment aid, Koekelberg 532, Berchem-Sainte-Agathe 524, Ganshoren 484, Auderghem 414, Watermael-Boitsfort 371 and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre 348.

The Brussels figures are not far from the previous estimate made by Vivalis, the Brussels public service that is responsible for poverty reduction.

According to Vivalis, the capital is the country’s hardest-hit region. The agency estimates that only 5,200 of the affected 26,866 Brussels residents will return to work after the restriction.

"That low number is due to the vulnerable profile of many unemployed people," it added. "In the Brussels region, half of them have a low level of education and some 50% have been unemployed for more than five years. And almost one in two residents are more than 45 years old."