Unemployment in Wallonia on decline

18 July 2007

BRUSSELS – The most recent figures from the National Employment Office indicate that unemployment in Wallonia is on the decline. The number of job seekers fell from 204,396 in April to 199,486 in May, a drop of 2.4 percent. The number of job seekers was down 5.1 percent compared to the same period in 2006.

The Walloon region counted 201,383 benefits recipients at the end of June 2007 and 10,461 young people still in their qualifying period, a total of 211,844 individuals. That is 14.4 percent of the active working population.

More than half (53.4 percent) are women, 35.5 percent is under the age of 30. Almost half have been unemployed for more than two years.

Since January 2007 the Walloon public employment service (FOREM) has received, processed and published 59,921 notices of job openings. That is an average of 9,987 job openings a month. In 2006 the monthly average was 8,378.

Subject: Belgian news