Belgian unemployment rate down 2.5%

In September, 2014, the unemployment rate in Belgium was 2.5% lower than in the same month last year, according to figures from the National Employment Office (NEO).

The NEO counted 464,098 unemployed people in Belgium in September, 2014, which is 2.5% less than in September, 2013. The unemployment rate fell in all three Belgian regions, but less sharply in the Flemish Region (-0.7%) than in the Walloon Region (-3.3%) and the Brussels-Capital Region (-4.4%).

Among Belgians under the age of 25, the unemployment rate fell by 13.7% to a total of 55,246 unemployed young people. The number of unemployed people over the age of 50, however, increased by 5.2% percent to 131,973.