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The employment rate increase comes to a standstill, the unemployment rate continues to fall

Work & training
The employment rate increase comes to a standstill, the unemployment rate continues to fall

Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, publishes today the main results of the Labour Force Survey for the first quarter of 2019:

  • 69.8 % of people aged 20 to 64 are employed. This is a decrease compared to the previous quarter and a 0.5 percentage point increase compared to the previous year. This pattern can also be observed in the distribution per gender, age and region.
  • Men are more active on the labour market than women with an employment rate of 73.8 % vs. 65.8 %.
  • The unemployment rate of people aged 15-64 continues to fall and stands at 5.7 %, i.e. the lowest level since records began in 1983.
  • The unemployment rate of women is lower than that of men and the gap is widening.
  • 5.2 % of people aged 25-49 are unemployed. This figure has never been lower either.
  • With both the employment rate and the unemployment rate falling compared to the previous quarter, the inactivity rate has increased. In the slightly longer term, we observe a decline in the inactivity rate.