Of the approximately 4.92 million employed people aged 15-64 in 2022, 4.55 million were also working a year earlier. 105,000 people were unemployed and 262,000 were inactive. 95% of employed people in 2021 remained employed in 2022. It was slightly more difficult for unemployed people to find a job between 2021 and 2022 than between 2020 and 2021, so more people remained unemployed. The percentage of inactive people who remained inactive also increased.

Transitions

Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, publishes today figures on individual changes in labour market status in 2022, compared to the year before. The modern labour landscape is constantly changing and more and more people are making transitions between employment, unemployment and inactivity. This could be for various reasons, such as exploring new career opportunities, starting your own business, or taking a break for personal or health reasons. It is important to understand that these transitions are normal and are part of the natural career path. Here we discuss labour market transitions between 2021 and 2022, with a focus on 15-64-year-olds.

The longitudinal nature of the Labour Force Survey makes it possible to measure the dynamics on the labour market. For example, is someone who is employed at a given time still employed a year later, or has this person become unemployed or inactive?

Between 2021 and 2022, 32.6% of the unemployed found a job

Between 2021 and 2022, 38.1% of the unemployed remained unemployed, 32.6% found a job and 29.3% became inactive (i.e. not available for work and/or not actively looking for work). Furthermore, 95.0% of employed people remained in work, 1.5% became unemployed and 3.5% became inactive. More information about employed people who remained in work is available here. Among inactive people, 84.3% remained inactive, 11.5% found work and 4.2% remained unemployed. Below, we take a closer look at how the transitions are going for high-skilled people.

High-skilled people

Employed

If we take a look at how transitions are taking place among the higher educated, we see a lot of stability in terms of employment: people who are higher educated, i.e. who have at least a bachelor's degree, stay in employment very easily. For all groups studied, 97.5% of the high-skilled employed in 2021 are still working a year later: this may be in the same job or a different one, but they always find work again quickly. The largest group of the higher educated aged 15 to 64 is in this situation: 80% are employed at both times, i.e. 2.4 of the 3 million higher educated.

Unemployed

If we take a look at the unemployed, we first see that this is a very small group: only 82,000 higher educated were unemployed in 2022. We see that high-skilled women (51.8%) get a job (back) faster than men (40.0%). There are also regional differences: in the Flemish Region, 56.8% of unemployed people in 2021 have a job a year later. This figure is 44.3% in the Brussels-Capital Region and 36.9% in the Walloon Region. So we also see these regional differences among the higher educated, although it seems easier for high-skilled people to find a job in Brussels.

By age, the trend is clear: the younger the high-skilled person, the quicker they find a job (excluding the 15-24 age group). People without the Belgian nationality also find work faster than Belgians.

Inactive

About 360,000 high-skilled people are inactive in 2022. The majority, 305,000, was also inactive a year earlier. On average, 71.5% of inactive people in 2021 were also inactive a year later. This percentage is higher for women (74.3%) than for men (66.4%). 74.8% remained inactive in the Walloon Region, 71.3% in the Flemish Region and 65.5% in the Brussels-Capital Region. The largest group, both in terms of percentage and number, that remained inactive is the 55-64-year-olds (84.3%), followed by the 15-24-year-olds (74.2%). People with the Belgian nationality (73.1%) remain more often inactive than non-Belgians (65.5%).