According to Statbel, the employment rate, the share of working people, has historically been higher for men than for women. That difference is said to have decreased over the years.
The gap between men and women in employment rates in Belgium fell from 10.3 percentage points to 6.2 between 2011 and 2021. The employment rates for men and women in 2021 were 74.7 percent and 68.6 percent, respectively.
Occupational situation
The differences depending on place of residence are large. The gap in employment rates appears to be highest in the Brussels Region. 64.2 percent of working-age men are working, compared to 55.7 percent of women.
Zoomed in on the municipalities, Sint-Jans-Molenbeek takes the cake. 59.6 percent of men have a job, while this is only the case for 43.8 percent of women. In Anderlecht it is 63.1 percent for men and 49.8 percent for women, and in Koekelberg it is 67.2 percent and 54.4 percent respectively.
There are also differences in terms of professional situation. Statbel’s figures show that in general men are more likely to be self-employed than women. While that difference is 5.2 percentage points across Belgium, it is 10.8 percentage points in the Brussels Region.
Tags: difference men women labor market largest Brussels Region
