At the end of September 2026, East Flanders recorded 54,042 unemployed job seekers (WZW). This represents an increase of 1.4% compared to September 2025. Nearly six in ten of these job seekers face a long distance to the labor market.
The proportion of former non-economically active job seekers stands at 54%, which is significantly higher than the share of job seekers with a (claim for) unemployment benefit (40%). Due to the time limitation of unemployment benefits, the latter group has considerably decreased. A portion has shifted to the former non-economically active group, which saw a strong increase of 29% compared to last year.
The cyclical downturn continues to have a significant impact on labor demand. In East Flanders, the number of received vacancies, 51,149 over the last twelve months, was a fifth lower (-19.9%) than the previous year.
Vacancies with a place of employment in East Flanders are concentrated in the triangle of Deinze-Aalst-Beveren, with Ghent as the primary employment hub. There are also numerous job opportunities in Oudenaarde and the southeast of the province.
The labor market is expanding but remains tight. The increasing tension indicator, now at 4.9, points to a more relaxed labor market. The sharp decline in labor demand, combined with increased unemployment, is causing the tightness to decrease.
However, the search for personnel remains very difficult in many sectors. This is particularly true for the numerous structural bottleneck professions, which, under pressure from an aging population and shortages from the education system, are not likely to disappear soon. Furthermore, matching these professions with job seekers, a significant portion of whom have a long distance to the labor market, is not straightforward.
