2023-08-10 17:41:05
In 20 years, the share of the population living on the integration income has more than doubled. Regional disparities are huge, but the increase is general.
In February 2023Belgium had 156,897 beneficiaries social integration income, the newspaper De Standaard reported on Wednesday. This is not a record, since the threshold of 160,000 beneficiaries had been crossed during the Covid-19 crisis. But the upward trend is undeniable, sincein twenty yearsthe share of the population living on the integration income is increased from 0.7% (in 2003) to 1.34% (today).
The subject was widely reported by the press in the north of the country, and gave rise to some thunderous political declarations, in particular on the huge disparities between regions. Last February, for 100 inhabitants, Brussels had 3.7 recipients, Wallonia almost 2 and Flanders only 0.59.
More young people
“There was a huge increase the number of beneficiaries after the abolition by the Michel government, in 2015, of integration allowances for certain categories of young people, recalls Sandrine Xhauflaire, adviser to the CPAS Federation of Wallonia. This phenomenon of communicating vessels is very worrying. That transfers part of the burden to the municipalities, which was previously borne by social securitysince this integration income is not 100% reimbursed to the CPAS by the Federal government.”
“There was a sharp increase after the Michel government abolished integration allowances for certain categories of young people.”
“There are also more and more people who go to the CPAS to seek a additional income – the typical example is that of the single mother, who works part-time in a sector that does not pay very well”, points out Philippe Defeyt, former president of CPAS Ecolo, who today heads the Institute for the development sustainable.
The tougher unemployment controls and exclusions also brings in more applicants. “The coronavirus crisis also pushed many people towards this integration income, because the unemployment funds could not follow in terms of temporary unemployment. These are typically temporary needs“, expliquait au Time Marjolijn De Wilde, chercheuse en politique sociale à la KULeuven.
Different realities
About the regional disparities, they can, in part in any case, be explained by a reality of facts. THE employment rate is 77% in Flanders, against 66% in Brussels and 65% in Wallonia. “THE percentage of poverty is also much lower in Flanders, even if it is up slightly to 10%, than in Wallonia, where it is around 18%, and in Brussels, where it exceeds 30%”, emphasizes Christine Mahy, Secretary General of the Walloon Network for the Fight against Poverty The figures in Brussels are also somewhat inflated by the number of recognized refugees benefiting from this integration income.
Another element that could play is the fact that thebeneficiary activation is much higher on the agenda in Flanders – even if over 10 years, the percentage increase in the number of beneficiaries of an integration income is a little higher in Flanders than in Wallonia and Brussels. “We are more inclined, in Flanders, to push people into jobs that are not always ideal in terms of the quality of work or salary”, believes Christine Mahy. “We are in favor of employment, but what we don’t want is a reversal of social gains, pushing people into jobs that won’t get them out of poverty, and sometimes even will make the situation worse.”
“The employment trap is, in my opinion, the main explanation for the fact that despite the shortage of trades and all our efforts, getting a series of beneficiaries back to work is difficult.”
Job trap
Because for the beneficiaries of an integration income too, there is also often trapped in employment, given the loss of a series of social benefits upon return to work. “This is, in my opinion, the main explanation for the fact that despite the shortage of trades and all our efforts, with in particular a series of partnerships concluded with local actors to use Article 60 (Editor’s note: a system which allows the CPAS to offer the social assistance requested in the form of a job), the re-employment of a series of beneficiaries is difficult”, diagnoses the president of the CPAS of Herve, Eric Jérôme (MR).
Added to this, of course, is the gap that often exists between the jobs to be filled and the profiles of the beneficiariess. “We always talk about trades in shortage, but there is really a big gap between, on the one hand, the conditions offered and the expectations of unemployed people, and, on the other hand, between the profiles sought by employers and the skills of unemployed people”, analyzes Sandrine Xhauflaire. A whole section of the population is very poorly qualified, often with a series of serious problems.
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