One in four Brussels children living in jobless household

More than one-quarter of children in Brussels (25.7%) and nearly one in five children in Wallonia (18.5%) are growing up in a household where no one works, the highest figures in Europe, writes De Tijd. The newspaper published the figures based on data from the Flemish public employment service VDAB and Steunpunt Werk, the policy research centre for work and social economy.

The data reveals a stark contrast with the Flemish region, where only one in 15 minors (6.6%) lives in an unemployed family.

The number of jobless households in Belgium has been on the rise throughout the country since the beginning of the economic crisis, with 11.3% of Belgian children in 2008 growing up in a family where no one works, compared to 12.8% currently.

The poor performance in Wallonia is mainly due to the effects of deindustrialisation, but also politics, according to Professor Luc Sels of Steunpunt Werk. "Wallonia started much later with intensive job search assistance. Moreover, the quality of education in the region is poor," he says.

Brussels struggles with the typical problems of a large city, points out Willem Vansina of VDAB. “The figures point to a marginalisation of part of the population that is completely disconnected from the labour market. It is very difficult for children from such families to break the cycle of poverty, which is passed down from generation to generation."