Youth not in employment, education or training (i41)

In 2022, 9.2% of people aged 15 to 29 in Belgium were not in employment, education or training. To achieve the sustainable development goal by 2030, this figure must be reduced to 8.6%. This objective will be reached by continuing the trend since 2000 (data available in November 2023). The proportion of youth not in employment, education or training is therefore developing favourably.

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Youth not in employment, education or training - Belgium - trend assessment

percentage of population aged 15-29

 20002005201020152020202220252030
observations17.214.013.014.412.09.2----
trend and extrapolation (November 2023)17.214.713.613.111.210.29.28.1
objective 20308.68.68.68.68.68.68.68.6

Statbel; Eurostat (2023), European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), edat_lfse_20, lfsi_neet_a_h, lfsi_neet_a, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat (consulted on 03/10/2023) & calculations FPB.

Youth not in employment, education or training - Belgium and international comparison

percentage of population aged 15-29

 2000200220052010201520172020202120222022//20002022//20172022//2002
Belgium17.216.414.013.014.412.612.010.19.2-2.8-6.1-2.8
EU27--15.915.315.315.113.613.713.111.7---3.0-1.5
//: Average Growth Rates

break in time series: BE in 2001, 2004, 2017, 2021; EU in 2003, 2006, 2021

Statbel; Eurostat (2023), European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), edat_lfse_20, lfsi_neet_a_h, lfsi_neet_a, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat (consulted on 03/10/2023).

Youth not in employment, education or training, by region - Belgium

percentage of population aged 15-29

 200020052010201520172020202120222022//20002022//2017
Brussels-Capital Region25.521.621.420.619.117.914.213.4-2.9-6.8
Flemish Region12.410.48.810.79.28.87.56.4-3.0-7.0
Walloon Region22.817.817.218.415.815.312.912.4-2.7-4.7
//: Average Growth Rates

break in time series: 2001, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2017, 2021

Statbel; Eurostat (2023), European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), edat_lfse_22, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat (consulted on 03/10/2023).

Youth not in employment, education or training, by sex - Belgium

percentage of population aged 15-29

 200020052010201520172020202120222022//20002022//2017
females20.415.714.115.013.212.49.79.1-3.6-7.2
males14.012.411.813.911.911.710.49.3-1.8-4.8
//: Average Growth Rates

break in time series: BE in 2001, 2004, 2017, 2021; EU in 2003, 2006, 2021

Statbel; Eurostat (2023), European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), edat_lfse_20, lfsi_neet_a_h, lfsi_neet_a, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat (consulted on 03/10/2023).

Youth not in employment, education or training, by education - Belgium

percentage of population aged 15-29

 200020052010201520172020202120222022//20002022//2017
less than primary, primary and lower secondary education23.317.417.018.715.815.112.512.0-3.0-5.4
upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education15.713.712.114.012.412.310.89.9-2.1-4.4
tertiary education8.68.87.99.28.47.86.55.1-2.3-9.5
//: Average Growth Rates

break in time series: 2001, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2017, 2021

Statbel; Eurostat (2023), European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), edat_lfse_21, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat (consulted on 03/10/2023).

Definition: the proportion of young people (aged 15 to 29 years) who meet the following two conditions: (a) they are not employed and (b) have not attended any training or education during the four weeks prior to the interview. The data come from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Statistics Belgium organises this EU-harmonised survey in Belgium and makes the results available, in particular to Eurostat. The survey methodology was reviewed in 2017. Comparison of the 2017 data with previous years should be done with caution. Due to, among other things, changes in the definition of unemployment following a new European framework regulation, the data from 2021 onwards cannot be directly compared with those of 2020. From now on, persons who are temporarily unemployed for more than three months will no longer be counted as employed but as unemployed or inactive, depending on the answers to the questions on job search and availability.

The data used here come from Eurostat, which publishes detailed and comparable results between EU Member States. Since these data are based on surveys, a margin of uncertainty should be taken into account. This margin of uncertainty increases as the indicator is calculated on smaller sub-populations. The confidence intervals for these data are available on request from Statistics Belgium.

Goal: the proportion of youth not in education, employment or training should not exceed 8.6% in 2030.

The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 8.6: "By 2020 substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training".

Belgium’s recovery and resilience plan endorsed the European target from the European Pillar of Social Rights: the proportion of youth not in education, employment or training should not exceed 9% of people aged 15 to 29 years by 2030. This target was further refined for Belgium to 8.6% by 2030 (European Commission, 2022; Federal Public Service Social Security, 2023).

International comparison: in the European Union, the share of young people not in employment, education or training, which had been decreasing since 2002, went up from 2008 to 2013 in the wake of the economic and financial crisis. From 2013 onwards, the decrease starts again, except in 2020. Over the entire period, the decline is slower than in Belgium. Since 2005, Belgium has been below the European average. When Member States are divided into three groups, Belgium is part of the group with average performance in 2022 and outperforms the European average. In that year, the Netherlands ranked first with 4.2% and Romania last with 19.8%.

UN indicator: the selected indicator corresponds to indicator 8.6.1 - Proportion of young people (aged 15 to 24) not in employment, education or training.

Sources

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