BRUSSELS – More than a quarter of people in Belgium on unemployment benefit are making no effort to get a job, it was reported on Friday.

The National Employment Office (ONEM) revealed the figure after a week of detailed interviews with the unemployed.

Some 26.97 percent of people were not looking hard enough, it concluded, with only 21.18 percent considered to be doing enough to find work.

Flemish-speaking Belgians seem particularly inactive when it comes to looking for work, with 38.33 percent of Flanders’ unemployed judged to be doing too little and only 16.67 doing enough.

In Wallonia, 23 percent weren’t trying hard enough while 22.47 were actively seeking a job. In Brussels, 18 percent were doing too little and 28 percent were praised.

In October, ONEM staff asked 864 job seekers for an interview and 404 of them failed to show up, with the vast majority of the absentees coming from Wallonia (71.53 percent).

In about a fifth of the cases, the job-seeker had a valid reason for failing to appear, but in more than half of the cases (234) he or she did not have a good excuse.

In July, ONEM was made responsible for monitoring unemployed receiving money from the social security insurance fund. Each month it sends out 10,000 letters to job seekers under 30.

[Copyright Expatica 2004]

Subject: Belgian news