Belgium: Youth unemployment at its highest level in years

The unemployment rate among 15 to 24 year olds was 19.9 percent in the third quarter. Or in other words: a fifth of young people available for the labor market were without a job in the third quarter. To be clear: students are not included in those figures.

Youth unemployment often peaks in the third quarter as recent graduates actively look for work. This does not alter the fact that this is the highest figure since the first quarter of 2017. For a third quarter it is the highest youth unemployment figure since 2016.