A few months ago, we were delighted with the continuous decline in the Walloon unemployment figures. Today, the trend is changing. Yet the number of benefit recipients is still falling! It may seem strange but it can be explained.
Le Forem announces it in its first bulletin of the year: 2022 was marked by a sharp drop in job seekers receiving unemployment benefits. This is rather good news ! But it is tempered by another observation: there is a strong increase in the number of young people on integration training and job seekers registered freely.
The unemployed are more numerous
When we balance, we see that the number of unemployed job seekers finally increased in 2022. This is particularly the case among those under 25: between December 2021 and December 2022, they are 15% more. This is due in particular to an extension of the duration of studies observed during the Covid period. It delayed their arrival on the market.
More unemployment and less benefits?
However, young people who leave school at over 24 do not immediately benefit from allowances. They have to wait a year. This goes a long way to explaining why more people hope for a job even though fewer actually get help.
And in 2023 then?
The figures must be interpreted with caution, insists Forem, because other factors cloud the statistics. However, young people who cannot find a job are a sign that should be alarming: they are almost always the first to bear the brunt of a generalized reduction in hiring.
They are therefore the precursor signal of degradation. It is still only light but the turn signals are orange.
