People born abroad and wanting to be active on the labour market in Belgium indicate that insufficient knowledge of one of the country's languages is the main obstacle to finding a job.

This is shown by new data from Statbel, the Belgian statistics office, based on the Labour Force Survey with answers from over 29,000 people aged 15 to 74. These results come from a series of questions that were added, both for all Belgians and specifically for people born abroad.

Language barrier as obstacle

The language barrier is particularly significant among unemployed and inactive people: 19% of the unemployed and 11% of the inactive born abroad indicate that they do not have sufficient knowledge of one of the official languages in Belgium and therefore have difficulties finding a job. The lack of suitable jobs, an unrecognised foreign diploma and limited legal access to the labour market also play a role for unemployed and inactive people born abroad.

Table 1: Main obstacle of people born abroad to finding a (suitable) job per labour market status (2021)

* target group: all people aged 15 to 74 who were born abroad

Knowledge of the linguistic region’s language

If we look at the estimated current knowledge of the language of the linguistic region in which one lives, the level is the highest in the linguistic regions of the Walloon Region (French-speaking region or German-speaking region): almost 80% declare having the relevant language as their mother tongue or having an advanced knowledge of it. The percentage is about 60% in the Brussels-Capital Region and about 45% in the Flemish Region.

The number of persons with little or no knowledge, or a basic knowledge, is also the highest by far in the Flemish Region: about 33% compared to 17% in the Brussels-Capital Region and 9% in the Walloon Region.

Table 2: People born abroad: current knowledge of the host country language (2021)

* target group: all people aged 15 to 74 who were born abroad

** Dutch in the Flemish Region, Dutch or French in the Brussels-Capital Region, French in the Walloon Region (excluding the German-speaking community) and German for the German-speaking community

Mainly discrimination on the grounds of foreign origin and gender

Of all people aged 15 to 74 with a job, irrespective of their country of birth, some 97% say they were not discriminated against in their current job. This figure is the highest for people born in Belgium, and the lowest for people born in a non-EU27 country. In the latter group, 6.5% say they are discriminated against in the current job.

The grounds for discrimination differ significantly depending on the background. We only look at people who have indicated that they have been discriminated against in their current job. In this group, four employed people out of five (79%) born in a non-EU27 country responded that foreign origin (nationality, skin colour, accent, religion and/or clothing style) was the reason for the discrimination. Foreign origin also played a role for three out of five (63%) employed people who were not born in Belgium but in the EU27. Among Belgians who felt discriminated against in the current job, the grounds for discrimination were mainly (51%) another reason than age, gender, foreign origin or disability.

Table 3: Discrimination in the current job, gender and country of birth (2021)

*target group: all people aged 15 to 74 with a job

**Includes, in addition to nationality, skin colour, foreign accent, including dialect accent, religion and/or clothing style and may also affect respondents born in Belgium.

***e.g. bad relationship with colleagues or the boss, does not know the exact reason, …

The job level is the same or higher, but less among women

All employed people who were not born in Belgium and who had a job before moving to Belgium were also asked to compare the level of the current job with that of the last job before migrating. Half of them (50.3%) say that the level remained the same. 32% say that the level is now higher.

Here too, we see differences related to origin and gender. More than one out of five (23%) employed women who were born abroad report having a job with a lower level than the job they had before moving to Belgium. Employed people who were not born in an EU27 country are also more likely to say they have a lower-level job.

Table 4: Comparison of the level of skills required in the current job and in the job before moving to Belgium (2021)

*target group: all people aged 15 to 74 who were born abroad

One person out of five migrated for work

When asked what the reason for moving to Belgium was, employment is the answer given by more than one in five (22%) people born abroad. People from the EU27 move more often as they have already found a job before migrating (18%). Among people from outside the EU27, 12% migrated for work without having found a job before migrating.

However, by far the largest group of respondents (55%) indicated that family reasons, family reunification or family formation were the reasons for migrating to Belgium.

Employment gets second place. The third most common reason, especially among people from outside the EU27, is international protection or asylum.

Table 5: Main reason for migrating per country of birth EU27 and non-EU27 (2021)

*target group: all people aged 15 to 74 who were born abroad

More results and tables are available (NL - FR)

Methodological note

In 2021, over 29,000 people aged 15-74 were surveyed about the labour market situation of migrants and the factors influencing this situation. Extrapolated to the total population, this represents 8,533,851 people.

The questions were asked to people who were not born in Belgium, but part of them were also directed at people born in Belgium. These questions were added to the Labour Force Survey.

The results are no absolute figures, but the result of an extrapolation of the sample. This must be taken into account when interpreting the results. When the estimated number of persons is lower than 8,000 (figures in red), data should be interpreted with caution.

For the Labour Force Survey, a sample has been drawn from the population registered in the National Register. The National Register records the legal population as entered in the civil registers of municipalities. The waiting register of the asylum seekers is left aside of the population count and has been excluded from the sample.

In order to determine the language of the country, we followed Eurostat’s instructions about countries with several official languages. The language is therefore the language of the linguistic region: Dutch in the Flemish Region, Dutch and French in the Brussels-Capital Region, French in the Walloon Region (excluding the German-speaking community) and German for the German-speaking community.

Definitions

The survey is harmonised at European level. The definitions regarding employment and unemployment that are mentioned (see tab 'documents') are those of the International Labour Office (ILO) to allow international comparison.

Low-skilled people are people who have at most a lower secondary education diploma. Medium-skilled people are people who obtained a diploma of upper secondary education but not of higher education. Highly-skilled people obtained a diploma of higher education.