In Belgium, unlike in any other European country, the law differentiates between arbeiders – originally manual labourers – and bedienden, which are generally white-collar workers. The distinction, created in the 19th century, effects employment rights in the areas of holiday entitlement, overtime pay, sick leave and notice required in the event of redundancy. As a general rule, employees receive better treatment than labourers. To take one example, employees are paid from the first day of sick leave, whereas labourers are not.

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 Economist calls them “Generation Jobless”. They are young people aged 15 to 24 of whom 290 million worldwide are neither working nor studying. That’s almost a quarter of the planet’s youth who are considered “inactive”.

Across Europe, as in Flanders, the euro crisis has hit young job seekers exceptionally hard. The continent’s average youth unemployment rate sits at 23.5%. Not surprisingly, unemployment rates are highest in Greece (58.4%), Spain (55.7%), Portugal (38%) and Italy (38%).

Viktor, from Erembodegem, East Flanders, suffers from atypical haemolytic-uraemic syndrome, an immune system disorder caused by an E coli infection. The body destroys its own red bloods cells, which can lead to kidney failure. The disease affects mainly children, of whom there are only about a dozen in Belgium.