Belgium
Strategies for youth employment
- Strategies for youth employment
- Yes
Youth employment strategy planned in the next 2 years
- Discussions within the government
- Yes
- Consultations with national-level stakeholders (e.g. employers’ and workers’ associations, youth councils, etc.)
- Yes
- A draft strategy already exists
- Yes
- Other (please specify)
- Yes
Countries with national action plans for youth employment
- Monitoring framework (timeline and activity/outcome indicators, e.g. youth labour market indicators)
- Yes
- Funding (indicative budget to implement the plan)
- Yes
- Institutional responsibilities (e.g. ministries/agencies in charge of specific planned activities )
- Yes
- Other, specify
- No
Public funding for the national youth employment strategy
- Public funding for the national youth employment strategy
- Yes
Additional information:
Brussels: • Minister-President and Minister for Employment of the Brussels-Capital Region; • Minister for Training and Minister for Social Cohesion of the Cocof ; • Ministers of Compulsory Education of the Communities ; • Ministers of Social Promotion Education of the Communities; • Managing authorities of the ESF and ESF+ programs, mainly Wallonia region • The Forem: Intervention scheme for the benefit of young people Forem 2018. • Wallonia public employment and training service for the 30,000,000 of the Wallonia Recovery Plan.Youth in the national development / employment strategy
- Youth in the national development / employment strategy
- Yes
Additional information:
Belgium’s youth are targeted through strategies and programmes across all three regions and the German-speaking Community, each with tailored measures to support youth employment and inclusion. • Brussels-Capital Region Youth employment is central to the Go4Brussels 2030 Strategy, and is embedded in related policy instruments such as: ∙ The Regional Sustainable Development Plan, and ∙ Annual contributions to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). Brussels has implemented comprehensive legislative tools to enhance training and employment opportunities for young people (e.g., the Training Plan 2020, integrated into Go4Brussels). • German-Speaking Community Youth are served through targeted labour market subsidies and training pathways: ∙ AktiF and AktiF PLUS subsidies (from 2019): Support employers hiring disadvantaged young jobseekers (≤ 25 years old, low-qualified or long-term unemployed), with additional support for those facing multiple barriers (e.g. language level, reduced capacity). ∙ Transition Course (EPU – Einstiegspraktikum): Enables young jobseekers to start a vocational training programme after just three months of unemployment, down from six months previously. • Walloon Region The region includes youth in several employment and training schemes: ∙ "Impulsion – 25 years" employment incentives ∙ Young people’s integration contracts (prior to repeal in 2019) ∙ Training and Integration Plan (active since 2019) ∙ Youth employment in the non-market sector (solidarity-pact initiatives from 2005/2007) ∙ First Job Agreement (from 1999, updated in 2016) • Flemish Region Youth are included in the region’s labour strategy via: ∙ The Flemish Employment Policy Note (Beleidsnota Werk), setting youth as a core priority ∙ The "All Hands on Deck" initiative, aimed at enhancing youth employability through skills development, inclusive labour market interventions, and dual learning modelsCountries with national goals for youth employment
- Countries with national goals for youth employment
- Yes
Additional information:
• Brussels-Capital Region Under Objective 2.1 of the Go4Brussels 2030 Strategy, the region has set out clear targets for youth employment: ∙ Youth Guarantee: Ensure young people under 25 receive a quality offer—employment, training, apprenticeship, or internship—within four months of leaving education or unemployment. ∙ Vocational training (Bruxelles Formation): Diversify and strengthen training, delivering 3,000 training offers each year across languages, vocational qualifications, and work-study programmes (including dual learning) . ∙ Supervised internships (Actiris, Bruxelles Formation, VDAB Brussels): Provide 2,000 quality internships annually across public and private sectors. ∙ Employment support (Actiris, HUB YET network): Offer personalised support for all jobseekers under 30, aiming to place 1,500 young people each year through wage subsidies, insertion contracts, and regular job placements. • German-Speaking Community Through its 2021–2024 Employment Office Management Contract, the region implements the European Youth Guarantee, ensuring that all under-25s are offered quality employment, training, apprenticeships, or internships within ten weeks of registration, even during July and August. • Flemish Region Flanders is actively working to: ∙ Prevent early school dropout and reduce unqualified exits from education, ensuring better youth retention; ∙ Increase outreach to NEET groups ("Not in Employment, Education or Training") to support their re-integration into education or work.Countries with quantitative targets for youth employment
- Countries with quantitative targets for youth employment
- Yes
Policy areas in national youth employment strategies
- Macroeconomic and Sectoral policies
- Yes
- Enterprise Development
- Yes
- Education, Training and skills development
- Yes
- Labour Demand
- Yes
- Labour Law and Legislation
- Yes
- Labour Market Policies
- Yes
- Other (please specify)
- No
Social partners' inclusion in the youth employment strategy
- Workers
- Implementation of youth employment strategies/programmes (e.g. social partners as official implementers of the strategy or programme)
- Fully involved
- Assessment of youth employability (alignment of youth qualifications and skills to labour market needs)
- Fully involved
- Monitoring and evaluation of youth employment interventions (e.g. active labour market programmes)
- Fully involved
- Awareness raising, marketing and promotion of youth employment (e.g. campaign to promote youth employment)
- Fully involved
- Formulation of youth employment strategies (e.g. national action plan for youth)
- Fully involved
- Development of youth employment programmes (e.g. sectoral programme with a clear target to employ X number of youth)
- Fully involved
- Employers
- Implementation of youth employment strategies/programmes (e.g. social partners as official implementers of the strategy or programme)
- Fully involved
- Assessment of youth employability (alignment of youth qualifications and skills to labour market needs)
- Fully involved
- Monitoring and evaluation of youth employment interventions (e.g. active labour market programmes)
- Fully involved
- Awareness raising, marketing and promotion of youth employment (e.g. campaign to promote youth employment)
- Fully involved
- Formulation of youth employment strategies (e.g. national action plan for youth)
- Fully involved
- Development of youth employment programmes (e.g. sectoral programme with a clear target to employ X number of youth)
- Fully involved
Youth-led organizatios' inclusion in the national strategy
- Fully involved
- Yes
- Partially involved (only for some elements of the strategy)
- No
- Consulted
- No
- Informed
- No
- Not involved
- No
Countries with national partnerships for youth employment
- Countries with national partnerships for youth employment
- Yes
Additional information:
2025: Brussels: See above, bearing in mind that employment policy is a regional responsibility. Since 2016, sectoral framework agreements have been negotiated between the regional government and certain joint commissions, setting out the objectives to be achieved in terms of employment, training and the fight against all forms of discrimination. 2024 Brussels: See above, bearing in mind that employment policy is a regional competence. Negotiation of sectoral framework agreements between the Government and certain sectoral joint committees which set out objectives to be achieved in the areas of employment, training or the fight against all forms of discrimination. Flanders: Learning network Youth GuaranteeInclusiveness of vulnerable groups in national strategies
- Women
- Yes
- Migrant Workers
- Yes
- NEETs
- Yes
- People with disabilities
- Yes
- Low skilled workers
- Yes
- Rural workers
- Yes
- Other (please specify)
- No
Youth employment strategies and international cooperation
- Youth employment strategies and international cooperation
- Yes
Additional information:
2025: The Brussels-Capital Region receives financial support (co-financing) from the European Commission via the European Social Fund (ESF/IEJ 2014-2020) and ESF+ (2021-2027) for certain measures to support youth employment. 2024 The Brussels-Capital Region receives financial support (co-financing) from the European Commission via the European Social Fund (ESF/IEJ 2014-2020) and ESF+ (2021-2027) for certain measures to support youth employment. -- 2023 Yes, the EU supports youth employment through the EYI (Youth Employment Initiative) in Wallonia