Platform for the food and beverage industry
"Digitization and automation to fill bottleneck occupations is good, but also the mandatory training of those who are long-term unemployed to a bottleneck occupation should no longer be a taboo." So says Jolyce Demely, general director of Agoria Flanders, now that it appears that the list of bottleneck occupations has grown a bit longer again.
The Flemish list of bottleneck occupations now includes 207 occupations, 17 more than last year. Flemish Minister of Work Hilde Crevits announced this today. The list includes occupations for which employers are finding it harder to find suitable employees. Their number is still expanding, due to the general tightness on the labor market, which is due in part to the increasing ageing population. In 2021, the VDAB received more than 360,000 vacancies, or twice as many as in 2020. Six out of ten of these were vacancies for bottleneck occupations. At the same time, Flanders has the lowest number of job seekers since 2008.
From now on, the VDAB goes to the companies that have many bottleneck vacancies with a new digital application and an expert team. "That is good, but also the compulsory training of those who are long-term unemployed to a bottleneck profession should no longer be a taboo," believes Jolyce Demely of Agoria Flanders.
"The many job openings are depressing productivity in businesses and holding back the revival of our economy. The current dropout of workers due to corona only increases the needs of our bottleneck economy even after the relaxed quarantine rules. In the short term, Minister Crevits is calling on students to apply, but those who are not trained are hard to employ. I advocate more than ever to invest in the long-term unemployed by linking benefits and training to a bottleneck occupation of choice for people who are long-term unemployed."
"A closed production line, a production line at half capacity... This past week our member companies also reported the shutdown of production. It is yet another symptom of a structural problem that is being magnified today. Having open positions filled by students is well-intentioned but unfortunately will not have the hoped-for result because the matching of skills needed is lacking. It is more necessary than ever to sustainably train the workforce for the future, keeping in mind the many bottleneck occupations. And the potential is there. This week the Steunpunt Werk published interesting figures about the potential in the Flemish labor force, some 98,600 people are unemployed and available. ", says Jolyce Demely.
"With the current proposal to grant unemployment benefits unconditionally, we lose twice. First, if the number of long-term unemployed applying for unemployment benefits keeps increasing, the cost will rise. Second, there is also no guarantee that interrupting one's current job will lead to entry into a new one, since this often requires new competencies and skills. With the introduction of a conditional benefit, you win twice: the number of people who are unemployed is reduced, thus reducing the cost of unemployment benefits. Why not maximize the bottleneck economy as an opportunity to activate and thus optimize combining learning and working in the future?" wonders Jolyce Demely.
