“Refugees are not the solution for a tight labor market”, says Minister Crevits | Inland

More than 30,000 Ukrainians have received temporary protection in our country, especially women and children. Minister Crevits emphasized in the competent Flemish committee that the VDAB is ready to quickly help refugees who want to find a job. That would also make them less financially dependent, according to the minister. “You also notice that those people are asking to be able to get started quickly.”

“However, there is one big but. I protect myself from a discourse in which these people are seen as the solution to the shortage on our labor market and where they have to be used literally and figuratively at any cost”, emphasized Crevits. After all, it concerns people who sometimes had to flee headlong to a new region. Their first priority is to ensure that they have a roof over their heads and that children can go to school. Afterwards, for those who can, the possible access to the labor market follows.

In addition, some of those people, who have only fled for a few weeks, are unable to get started right away, for example because they barely speak English. Since 1 March, 630 Ukrainians have been registered with the VDAB and 29 are working. Of those 630, 141 were registered in March, but the vast majority only followed in the last few weeks, which, according to the minister, is also “logic itself”.

She also indicated that more than 3,000 vacancies have been reported on the VDAB website via the hashtag #werkplekvrij. This initiative came about as a result of the war in Ukraine. With this campaign, employers want to indicate that they give talents abroad a chance at work. They also indicate that they want to offer extra support to make the recruitment a success.