The number of employed Brussels’s residents is expected to increase

The Federal Planning Bureau, BISA, IWEPS and Statistics Flanders have published the most recent Regional Economic Prospects 2018-2023. According to this survey, between 2018 and 2023, the number of Brussels residents who have a job is expected to increase by 1.3% a year. This means than an average of 6,200 will be employed each year.

This percentage increase was the highest in Belgium, compared to Flanders and Wallonia.

In 2018, 1 out of every 7 Brussels residents with a job is a commuter (13.6 % of the employed active population). In 2023, the proportion is expected to be close to 1 out of every 6 (15.5 %).

Job creation is expected to fall

The number of net new jobs will subsequently begin to fall, in line with the expected slow-down in economic growth. By 2023, net new jobs are expected to fall to 3,000 units.

Over the 2018-2023 period, employment in the Brussels Capital Region is expected to increase by an average of 0.6% per year, the number of workers reaching 727,000 in 2023. This corresponds to the employment of slightly more than 24,000 additional workers over the entire period, or an average of 4,000 net new jobs created each year. This figure appears high when seen from a historical perspective: between 1985 and 2016, the average net job creation in the Brussels Region remained under 2,400 units per year.

The employed active population in Brussels is rising twice as fast as domestic employment

The number of Brussels residents in work should increase by an average of 6,200 units per year over the 2018-2023 period. The expected increase in the Brussels Region is thus relatively high as compared to the results for the two other regions (annual rise of between 10,000 and 11,000 units). With a growth of 1.3 % per year, the change in the employed active population in Brussels is more dynamic than in Flanders or Wallonia (+0.8 % in both cases).

Moreover, the employed active population is expected to grow more rapidly than domestic employment within the territory of Brussels (+1.3 % and +0.6 % respectively between 2018 and 2023). Over the same period, the proportion of domestic jobs in Brussels held by residents of the Region should continue to increase, rising from 53.5 % to 54.4 %