Federal government jobs highly sought

A record number of people applied for posts at the federal government last year, according to figures released this week. A total of 172,420 people applied to work for the Belgian government, or 60,000 more than the previous year. The majority of candidates were under 35 years old.

The number of applications has been steadily rising in recent years, from 87,000 in 2011 to 110,200 the following year. Two-thirds of candidates last year were French-speaking, despite Dutch being the country’s majority language. Some 10,000 people identified themselves to be of foreign origin, while 1,100 said they had a handicap.

The federal government recruited 2,768 new staff last year, an increase of 198 on 2012. Yet the total number employed by the federal government fell as a result of cuts in government staff levels from 70,573 in 2012 to 69,359 last year. 

photo courtesy VRT