Immigration Muslim unemployment around 50% in Belgium

[Maciamo]

According to the official statistics, the unemployment rate in Belgium in September 2004 was 8.7%. However, a detailed analysis show that the Moroccan and Turkish community had a combined average rate of 45%, including 56% for the women only. The authorities blame the higher unemployment of these communities to the lack of qualifications, and for the Turkish community also an insufficient knowledge of either official language (Dutch or French).

 

[RockLee]

I can only say that of what I've seen that is true! I know people that live here for their entire life and still can't speak Dutch that well, only Turkish or Morrocean. It's too sad for words!

 

[Maciamo]

I can only say that of what I've seen that is true! I know people that live here for their entire life and still can't speak Dutch that well, only Turkish or Morrocean. It's too sad for words!

No wonder they live in self-imposed ghettoes. How would they survive otherwise if they cannot even go to a shop and ask for something, register to a sports club, get a driving licence (must speak an official language to pass the paper exam), or talk to a doctor. Naturally there aren't many jobs they can do without speaking the country's language, except manual jobs under the supervision of a Moroccan or Turkish boss that speaks French or Dutch.

By living in ghettoes the shop keepers speak their language and have imported products from their ancestral country, they can find video shops with imported films in their language...

What puzzles me is how they still do not speak the local language if they have been to a Belgian school, which is compulsory between the age of 6 and 18. I know that the highschool dropout rate is extremely high for such immigrants, but small children are supposed to pick up the language of their surrounding pretty quickly. If Belgian-born adults cannot speak either official language, it means that they haven't attended school as they should have, which also doesn't surprises me. Here in Brussels I see lots of Moroccan children and teenagers hanging in the street during school hours everday - and they are the only ones (never seen European children do so).