In Brussels, all newly registered job seekers on unemployment support are now benefitting from the Language and Digital Skills Assessment for informed employment counselling and training opportunities.

As Cedefop’s Belgium Refernet partners report, marking the European Union’s Belgian Presidency, in the first quarter of 2023, Brussels had 116,000 individuals actively seeking employment and the employment rate amounted to 66%. A considerable number of those job seekers lacked skills in digital literacy and 17.5% possessed only rudimentary knowledge of one of the official languages. These gaps have a particularly severe impact on employability in Brussels, given its bilingual and international environment which necessitates both strong linguistic skills and digital literacy.

To respond to these needs, and in line with both the Recovery and Resilience Plan and the Belgian Presidency priorities for equal opportunities and access to the labour market, the Brussels Region adopted an ordinance to improve employment opportunities for job seekers.

Effective on 1st September 2023, the ordinance requires Actiris, Brussels’ Public Employment Service, to conduct a language and digital skills assessment for each registrant, to provide job seekers with a clear picture of their digital and linguistic proficiency, including both official languages of the region and English. Actiris combines this data with individual career aspirations, to design with the job seeker a personalized action plan that may include career guidance, job search assistance and training (provided by Bruxelles Formation), or work experience opportunities. Addressing skill gaps empowers job seekers and increases their chances of securing employment.

Skills assessment as an opportunity

Although the assessment of language skills and digital literacy is not compulsory, it is being strategically integrated into the job seeker support process, and job seekers encounter invitations to take the assessment at three key points:

• during online or in-person registration,
• at information sessions,
• during mandatory professional assessments.

Following a staggered rollout plan, the language and digital skills assessment started with under 30 job seekers. As of 1st March 2024, the target audience was expanded to include also newly registered job seekers receiving employment benefits, and the next phase will include long-term job seekers, ultimately encompassing all individuals registered at Actiris.
This phased implementation allows for continuous improvement based on feedback and implementation data, which is used to refine the programme and ensure it meets the evolving needs of Brussels’ job market.

First outcomes

In line with the Brussels Region’s target of having 6,000 job seekers undertake the assessment by December 2024, by the end of March 2024, 6,065 assessments had been conducted, with:

This support includes debriefing on the skills assessment and provision of career guidance / counselling, and 43.6% of the target has been achieved so far.

Read this publication on Cedefop’s website