One in five Brussels residents is unemployed

The unemployment rate in Brussels climbed to 20.6% at the end of April 2014, compared to 20.1% a year earlier, according to figures from Brussels employment office, Actiris.

Brussels counted 109,331 jobseekers at the end of April 2014, 1.6% more than at the same time last year. The annual increase is partly due to the registration of jobseekers from Bulgaria and Romania in recent months, two countries affected by the EU’s lifting of the last restrictions on the free movement of workers since January 1.

The European Commission, meanwhile, reacted cautiously optimistic to the latest EU-wide unemployment figures, which are dropping faster than expected. “Economic growth in the EU is expanding, and the number of unemployed is falling faster than expected,” reports the Commission. “The labour market is beginning to recover."

According to its most recent forecast, the European Commission expects last year’s 10.8% overall unemployment rate to drop to 10.1% by 2015.