French-speaking job seekers in Brussels barely speak Dutch
Officially Brussels is a bilingual region, but for many Brussels residents the knowledge of Dutch or French is rather limited. Many job seekers avoid opportunities on the labor market, the Federal Planning Bureau and BISA argue in a new study. they examined the files of all French-speaking Belgians who are registered in Brussels with Actiris, the Brussels counterpart of the VDAB.
Nearly 30 percent of job seekers indicate that they speak Dutch at a so-called A1 level, which comes down to absolute basic knowledge. Another 37 percent have a level A2 – so they understand some simple texts with very words.
Taken together, 67 percent of the surveyed group does not speak Dutch at a functional level for the labor market. Even among people with a higher education diploma, 45 percent do not progress beyond this level. Fewer than one in five job seekers speak Dutch at least at an advanced level.
That little knowledge of Dutch plays tricks on the French-speaking inhabitants of Brussels in their search for a job. For example, the same study shows that people with at least an advanced level can be 20 percent more at work than people who don’t make it past level A2. Figures from Actiris itself, which do date from 2019, showed that half of the vacancies required explicit knowledge of Dutch and French.
Those who speak Dutch well have a significantly better chance of finding work, the study concludes – regardless of the level of study. This rule turned out to be especially true for women. This has to do with the sectors in which they are looking for work. For example, Dutch offers a greater advantage in sales than in some other sectors.
The Planning Bureau and BISA also point out that French-speaking job seekers who barely speak Dutch are no longer just fishing behind the net in Brussels. It is also difficult for them to find work in Flanders, even if it is nearby. And that foreign Brussels and Flanders have set up a cooperation agreement to attract more Brussels residents to jobs in Flanders.