Brussels CPAS Job Seeker Registrations Nearly Double

The number of job seekers registered at Public Social Welfare Centers (CPAS/OCMW) in Brussels has nearly doubled over the past year, reaching 34,137 people — an increase of 83.5% compared to June 2025. According to new data from RTBF, these CPAS-registered job seekers now account for 36.5% of the 93,445 total job seekers registered at Actiris, the Brussels regional employment office, up from roughly 20% in 2024.

Despite this dramatic surge, the overall unemployment rate in Brussels remained stable at 14.6%. The explanation lies not in a deteriorating labor market, but in a fundamental restructuring of Belgium’s unemployment insurance system.

The Arizona Reform: What Changed?

The sharp increase in CPAS registrations is driven by the federal government’s time-limiting of unemployment benefits, a key policy of the “Arizona coalition” government that took effect on January 1, 2026. Under the reform, unemployment benefits are now limited in duration, and workers who have not held a job for 20 years or more lose their RVA/ONEM unemployment benefits entirely.

As VRT NWS reported in January, the reform was implemented in phased waves throughout 2026: approximately 4,000 people were affected in the first phase (January), followed by roughly 11,900 in March, and approximately 13,300 in April. The RVA estimates that a total of around 41,710 Brussels residents could be excluded from unemployment benefits over the course of the year.

From Federal Benefits to Municipal Assistance

When job seekers lose their unemployment benefits, they do not simply disappear from the statistics. Many remain registered at Actiris as job seekers but shift to a different status: they apply for social assistance (leefloon/RIS) at their local CPAS/OCMW. This creates a statistical transfer from the federal unemployment system to the municipal social welfare system — and a corresponding cost-shifting effect from the national to the local level.

The data reveals the scale of this shift. The proportion of job seekers receiving unemployment benefits has fallen to just 34% of the total, a decline of 36.3% compared to June 2025. Meanwhile, the CPAS share has climbed from approximately 20% in April 2024 to 36.5% today. As BRUZZ noted, the changes are directly linked to the time-limiting of benefits, which has little effect on the total number of job seekers but causes significant underlying shifts.

Human Impact: Shame, Stigma, and Silent Suffering

Behind the statistics lie real human stories. OCMW officials across Brussels report that many former white-collar workers and individuals with long careers experience profound shame when forced to apply for social assistance.

“Take someone who built a career, then became unemployed, then worked occasionally as a temp, and now has to knock on the OCMW’s door — that is psychologically not an obvious step,” said Myriem Amrani (PS), OCMW President of Saint-Gilles, in an interview with VRT NWS.

Amhed El Khannouss (Molenbeek Autrement), OCMW President of Molenbeek, added: “Knocking on the OCMW’s door is still seen by many as begging. Which is completely unjustified. People are entitled to it. It’s part of our welfare state, and we should be happy about that.”

A further concern is the phenomenon of non-take-up of rights. Pierre Verbeeren, top official at OCMW Brussels-City, noted that sociological studies suggest up to 50% of those entitled to CPAS support do not claim it, due to lack of information, social isolation, or stigma. This raises the prospect of a hidden population of people without income or any social safety net.

A System Under Strain

The surge in demand places enormous pressure on Brussels’ 19 CPAS/OCMW offices. Brussels Today reported in April that the monthly increase in CPAS registrations had already reached 15.4%, with approximately 3,200 new applicants in March alone. By June, the year-on-year increase had accelerated to 83.5%.

Actiris itself has acknowledged that the reform creates a “major statistical rupture.” According to the agency, ONEM figures will mechanically decrease while Actiris figures temporarily increase, before a structural decline sets in as people eventually stop renewing their registration.

Demographic trends add further nuance. The data shows that younger job seekers (under 25, +10.7%) and those aged 25-49 (+3.4%) have seen the largest increases, while the share of those over 50 has slightly declined. Long-term unemployed (2+ years) still make up 45% of the total, though this figure has decreased slightly year-on-year.

What to Watch For

The situation raises several critical questions for the months ahead. First, the fiscal impact on Brussels’ 19 CPAS budgets remains unclear, but with applications surging, municipal finances are likely to come under severe strain. Second, the employment outcome rate for those who have lost benefits and transitioned to CPAS is not yet known — will the reform achieve its stated goal of incentivizing work, or simply shift people from one welfare category to another?

As reported by DHnet, an incident in which a desperate man doused himself with gasoline at the Molenbeek CPAS office underscores the extreme stress on vulnerable populations. With more phases of the reform still to come, the pressure on Brussels’ social safety net is only expected to intensify.

The coming months will reveal whether Belgium’s experiment with time-limited unemployment benefits achieves its intended economic objectives — or whether it simply shifts the burden from one level of government to another, leaving the most vulnerable to fall through the cracks.