Labour shortages are significant in Belgium. There are around 200,000 vacant positions in the last quarter of 2023, the majority in Flanders (67%), followed by Wallonia (20%) and finally the Brussels-Capital Region (13%). The lists of shortage professions and critical functions are growing.

To meet these needs, the CIRÉ is proposing to give undocumented migrants working in these sectors access to legal employment and is launching a campaign to this end. Through a film, the CIRÉ shows that undocumented migrant workers already informally fill the labour needs, inter alia in the construction, personal services or horeca sectors. It pleads to give these trained and qualified persons, sometimes present for years on the Belgian territory, access to legal employment in particular through the single permit procedure.

This campaign follows a similar request made during the summer by Walloon Minister-President Elio Di Rupo and Walloon Employment Minister Christie Morreale. They spoke out to allow undocumented workers to ask the Regions for a work permit. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo rather focused on activating local job seekers before considering undocumented workers for jobs in short supply. Labour shortages also attract attention at the European level. Today, the European Commission underlined the need to make the EU more attractive to talent from outside the EU and to facilitate mobility within the Union. It presented a Skills and Talent Mobility package to this end.

For more information on the campaign launched by the CIRÉ, please visit this webpage.