Dag Zonder Arbeid

Every year since 1890, we celebrate Labor Day on the 1st of May. Labor Day symbolises an important struggle lead by workers and union throughout decades.

But did you know that in Belgium, there are still almost 2 million people without a job?

With Co-Searching, a non profit working to empower job seekers, I developed the campaign “Dag Zonder Arbeid” (No Labor Day), a day (May 2nd) to shine a light on unemployment and the people behind the statistics.

It is no secret: since the COVID crisis, employers in many industries are struggling to find staff and to keep their employees. This feeds a narrative that there are plenty of great jobs around for anyone willing to work, and would almost make you think job seekers are lazy and too demanding.

On the other hand, statistics show that 117500 Belgians are currently unable to work due to a depression or burn-out. Clearly, there is something we’re not doing right.

Co-Searching wanted to create awareness and counter the narrative that is currently pushed my media and governments, so we developed a series of flyers featuring shock, unsensitive quotes that working people regularly do about unemployed people. These flyers were distributed to commuters during rush hour and sent to relevant organisations and representatives.