A mini-job is a part-time job paying up to €450 a month. The salary is tax free but offers few to no social security benefits. While unemployment has remained at about 7.5% since 2007 – even as the EU average rose – the number of employed aged 20-64 is only 67%.

The government has set a target of 73% by 2020. That would require the creation of 60,000 net jobs every year until then, and there seems little likelihood of that target being reached without significant efforts to lower salary costs, which currently represent a 10%-25% handicap for Belgian businesses.

The idea of the mini-job is taken from a German model that has long been opposed by socialists and unions. The liberals were careful to stress that their vision is not exactly the same as the German case.

“I find the term mini-jobs not the perfect choice, because of the pejorative connotations surrounding it,” said Open VLD president Gwendolyn Rutten (pictured). “But aside from that, we are in favour of the introduction of a system of easy-access, flexible and affordable labour … to bring people more easily to the labour market.”

The liberals’ coalition partners, the socialists, maintain their opposition. According to federal minister of the economy, Johan Vande Lanotte, €450 is not enough to live on – although the plan would include a top-up of government benefits. While five million people in Germany are currently employed in mini-jobs, he told the VRT, the German rate of poverty is twice as high as in Flanders.

The socialist trade union ABVV described the mini-job as “social dumping” and said it was a ploy “to distract attention away from more serious challenges, such as a recovery financed by fair taxation and with sustainable and quality jobs.”

The other main party, CD&V, declined to come down on either side. “I’m not saying yes and I’m not saying no,” said deputy prime minister Pieter De Crem. “These things still have to be discussed.”