Brussels unemployment down 6% in a year

Unemployment in Brussels has fallen to its lowest level since 2000, according to new figures from the region's job centre Actiris.

December marked the 38th consecutive month of falling unemployment, with the latest figure now at 16.4%. Youth unemployment stands at 24.3% and has been in decline for 55 months running.

Actiris had 91,091 registered jobseekers on its records last month, a 5.8% drop on December 2016. The number of jobseekers under 25 fell 10.1% over the past year.

Despite an overall improvement in the figures, unemployment among over-50s rose slightly last year, up 0.3%.

According to Actiris, 14,509 job vacancies were advertised in December - about half of which were outside the Brussels region due to a collaboration with Wallonia's job centre Forem and the Flemish VDAB.