Limburg (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Businesses throughout Limburg encounter growing challenges in hiring highly qualified staff. Young talent does not migrate to the province in sufficient numbers since students commonly pursue their education outside provincial borders, and some choose to stay there.
Recruiting highly educated employees poses major challenges for Limburg companies because young talent usually studies and works outside the province, and the retiring workforce speeds up this issue. The ongoing trend places the economic expansion of the region at risk. Employers’ organisation VOKA warns of an impending ‘exodus,’ with vacancies becoming increasingly difficult to fill, particularly for highly educated roles.
VOKA executive Jonas De Raeve identifies education and work-centred population movement between Leuven, Ghent and Antwerp as the primary reason behind this phenomenon. A retirement rate of 100 Limburgers now leads to the entry of 73 young workers, but this number was 83 ten years ago. Stef Van Looveren, CEO of Genk-based ‘Vlegel Technology,’ highlights the competition with larger cities, where higher wages and the presence of big tech companies make it harder to attract and retain talent. According to Van Looveren, the region of Limburg requires enhanced visibility to draw more skilled professionals.
“We are noticing major difficulties in our province to fill all vacancies,”
Says Jonas De Raeve of VOKA.
“That certainly applies to vacancies for highly educated profiles. Young people often study outside the provincial borders – such as in Leuven, Ghent or Antwerp – and then continue to work there.”
“If we do not offer certain courses, we see a structural ‘underparticipation’. That is why we have to respond to the needs of society and offer additional courses.”
Jonas De Raeve of VOKA also emphasises the importance of a broader range of training courses:
“We see that it is easier to keep profiles for which we already have training courses in Limburg. But for training courses that we do not offer – think of engineering courses – it is much more difficult to bring those graduates back.”
That is why VOKA is advocating, among other things, a master’s degree in civil engineering at UHasselt.
“This could ensure that more profiles stay here in Limburg instead of leaving.”
UHasselt is working – just like PXL – on expanding its range of training courses but is still encountering financial barriers.
“Due to the system of ‘pre-financing’, we only receive financing at cruising speed from the Flemish government after 12 to 13 years. This makes it difficult to respond quickly to the needs of the labour market”,
Vanheusden explains.
“We need to find a balance between training and creating career opportunities in Limburg,”
Says Lambrechts.
The director of PXL University College is already convinced that the situation in Limburg will change.
“The statistics are a bit behind, but I think that if we look again in 5 years, we will see that talent is not only better retained, but also attracted,”
Concludes Lambrechts.
What is the background of Limburg’s talent shortage?
The Belgian province of Limburg experiences difficulties in keeping educated professionals because it shares proximity with the prominent cities of Leuven, Ghent, and Antwerp, which offer superior professional prospects and increased wage rates. Since the last decade, the region has witnessed a decreasing trend of new young workers starting employment because the ratio of young workers to retirees has decreased from 83 ten years ago to the current 73:100. In Limburg, the ratio exceeds Flanders as a whole where it stands at 80:100.
The outflow of students from Limburg has become worse due to its restricted selection of higher education options, with engineering programs being the most affected. Strategic interventions are required in the province to prevent economic growth decline because of an ageing workforce alongside an inadequate match between education programs and labour market needs.
