Belgian labour market is greening too slowly
The Belgian labour market is moving too slowly towards a low-carbon economy. This is what the High Council for Employment said during a press conference on Thursday, based on a new report.
In 2022, employment in the environmental sector accounted for 2.3 per cent of Belgian employment. This percentage hardly increased and has even slightly decreased since 2019. It is also below the European average and well below the Scandinavian rate.
Low labour mobility
According to the Council, the green transition requires more labour mobility (the ability to move around the labour market). Mobility is very low in Belgium, both regionally and between sectors. To improve this, initiatives should be taken to make it easier for people to retrain for technical profiles.
The fact that too few students are graduating in scientific and technical fields such as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) to promote a low-carbon economy is also holding back the transition, according to the Council.
It recommends stronger STEM policies to attract more inactive, female and older workers. The green transition should create more opportunities for all workers and the labour market should be more involved in climate policy, the Council says.
Falling employment
The report further shows that employment in emission-intensive (polluting) sectors fell by almost 50 per cent between 1995 and 2022. In particular, the metals industry experienced a sharp decline of -22.7 per cent.
These sectors are also delaying the green transition. At the end of last year, Belgian steelmaker ArcelorMittal postponed the decision to green its Ghent plant, despite a €600 million investment by Flanders. The company cited rising energy prices and wage inflation as reasons for the delay.
"The transformation will not be easy, but we have to reinvent the economy," said David Clarinval, Belgium's minister of Employment, Economy and Agriculture. "The traditional sectors should not be dismantled, but modernised."
An employee rides a bike at the ArcelorMittal plant in Ghent. © John THYS / AFP
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