Bottleneck professions 2026: the technical list
Which technical professions are on the VDAB list of bottleneck professions, why are they hard to fill and what does that mean for you as a candidate or as an employer?
What is the list of bottleneck professions?
A bottleneck profession is a profession for which vacancies are harder to fill than for other professions. The VDAB research department draws up the list every year for Flanders, based on an analysis of vacancies and job seekers at VDAB and a survey of VDAB experts and sector organisations. For each profession it states why it is a bottleneck.
Source: VDAB, Knelpuntberoepen 2026 (read on 2026-10-23)
The 2026 edition counts 227 bottleneck professions. VDAB thoroughly updated its structure of professions this year, so you cannot compare the list directly with those of earlier years. According to VDAB, more than half of the ten largest bottleneck professions are technical roles in industry or construction.
Source: VDAB, Knelpuntberoepen 2026 (read on 2026-10-23)
The list is used, among other things, to recognise training courses and to grant exemptions to job seekers. VDAB explicitly calls it a priority list: a profession that is not on it is not automatically easy to fill. For labour migration the Flemish government uses a separate list, see the questions below.
Source: VDAB, Knelpuntberoepen 2026 (read on 2026-10-23); Flemish government, Employing a foreign national: medium skilled role (read on 2026-10-23)
The technical bottleneck professions we recruit for
Per technical role we recruit for: the name as VDAB prints it, the cause VDAB ticks, whether it is one of the ten largest bottleneck professions and the market rate gross range from our role profiles. The full list with every sector is in the VDAB PDF.
| Role | Name at VDAB | Cause | Top ten | Gross range per month | More |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automation engineer (PLC) | Ontwerper industriële automatisering | QuantitativeQualitative | No | €3,400 to €5,200 | Hiring Role and vacancies |
| Electromechanic | Industrieel elektromecanicien | QuantitativeQualitative | Yes | €2,800 to €4,000 | Hiring Role and vacancies |
| HVAC technician | Technicus installatietechnieken | QuantitativeQualitative | No | €3,000 to €4,300 | Hiring Role and vacancies |
| Regeltechnicus klimatisatie | QuantitativeQualitative | No | |||
| Logistics team leader | Logistiek verantwoordelijke | Qualitative | No | €3,200 to €4,600 | Hiring Role and vacancies |
| Maintenance technician | Industrieel onderhoudstechnicus | QuantitativeQualitative | No | €2,900 to €4,200 | Hiring Role and vacancies |
| Onderhoudstechnicus industriële automatisering | QuantitativeQualitative | No | |||
| Process operator | Procesoperator chemische industrie | QuantitativeQualitativeWorking conditions | No | €2,800 to €3,800 | Hiring Role and vacancies |
| Procesoperator voedingsindustrie | Qualitative | No | |||
| Production manager | Afdelingsverantwoordelijke productie | QuantitativeQualitative | No | €3,800 to €5,400 | Hiring Role and vacancies |
| Teamleader productie | QuantitativeQualitative | No | |||
| Project engineer | Projectmanager engineering | QuantitativeQualitative | No | €3,300 to €5,000 | Hiring Role and vacancies |
| Quality engineer | Verantwoordelijke kwaliteitscontrole | QuantitativeQualitative | No | €3,200 to €4,800 | Hiring Role and vacancies |
| Refrigeration technician | Koeltechnicus | QuantitativeQualitative | No | €3,000 to €4,300 | Hiring Role and vacancies |
| Supply chain planner | Productieplanner | QuantitativeQualitative | No | €3,000 to €4,400 | Hiring Role and vacancies |
| Technical sales engineer | Sales engineer | Qualitative | No | €3,200 to €5,000 | Hiring Role and vacancies |
Gross range without premiums and benefits. A role without a VDAB entry, such as prevention advisor, is not in this table.
Source: VDAB, Knelpuntberoepen 2026 (read on 2026-10-23)
The three causes of a bottleneck
VDAB ticks one or more of these causes per profession. They tell you more about your search than the bottleneck label alone.
- Quantitative: too few job seekers available on the labour market
- There are too few job seekers available for the profession. Even a better vacancy does not make the pool bigger, so you mainly look among people who already have a job today.
- Qualitative: candidates lack the right experience or training
- Candidates do exist, but they do not meet what is asked, for example because they lack the right experience or because education and the shop floor do not connect well. Training on the job can close part of that gap.
- Working conditions: specific working conditions put candidates off
- Job seekers do not put themselves forward because of the specific working conditions. VDAB mentions heavy physical work, weekend and evening work and part time or temporary contracts, among others.
Source: VDAB, Knelpuntberoepen 2026 (read on 2026-10-23)
Do you work in one of these professions?
See the technical vacancies open today, with pay and region.
Looking for one of these profiles?
Per role you find what the market pays, what it costs you and how we search for it.
Frequently asked questions
Where do you find the official VDAB list of bottleneck professions?
VDAB publishes the list every year as a PDF on vdab.be. The 2026 edition counts 227 bottleneck professions, grouped by occupational group, with the cause of the bottleneck per profession and the ten largest bottleneck professions listed separately. On the VDAB orientation page you can also search for professions and training courses labelled as bottleneck professions.
Source: VDAB, Knelpuntberoepen 2026 (read on 2026-10-23); VDAB, Bottleneck professions (orientation page) (read on 2026-10-23)
Is training for a bottleneck profession paid for?
If you are a job seeker, VDAB says you pay nothing for a recognised training course towards a bottleneck profession and you receive a travel allowance and a refund of your childcare costs. VDAB does warn that your benefit can drop or stop during the training, so check that beforehand. If you have a job and at most a secondary school diploma, the Flemish government says you can use training vouchers for, among other things, courses that lead to a bottleneck profession. The Flemish government's guide shows which training incentives apply to you.
Source: VDAB, Bottleneck professions (orientation page) (read on 2026-10-23); Flemish government, Training vouchers for employees (read on 2026-10-23); Flemish government, Guide to the Flemish training incentives (read on 2026-10-23)
What does the list of bottleneck professions mean for employers?
The list confirms that the profile is scarce in Flanders and says why: too few candidates, candidates without the right experience or training, or working conditions that put people off. It says nothing about how fast you find someone. People who are good in such a profession usually already have a job, so the pay has to be right: together, the market rate gross ranges of the technical roles in this table run from €2,800 to €5,400 per month, without premiums and benefits. The cause per profession helps you choose where to invest: a broader profile and training for a qualitative bottleneck, a stronger package for a quantitative one.
Source: VDAB, Knelpuntberoepen 2026 (read on 2026-10-23)
Can you hire someone from outside the EU more easily for a bottleneck profession?
Not automatically. For labour migration the Flemish government uses its own migration list of medium skilled roles and states explicitly that this list and the VDAB list of bottleneck professions are two different lists. Only a role on the migration list gets the simplified procedure, in which you as the employer do not have to prove a structural shortage yourself. If the role is on the VDAB list but not on the migration list, you follow the standard procedure.
Source: Flemish government, Employing a foreign national: medium skilled role (read on 2026-10-23)
If my profession is not in this table, is it not a bottleneck profession?
This table only shows the technical roles we recruit for. The full VDAB list counts many more professions, also in care, construction, logistics and hospitality. And a profession that is not on the list at all can still be hard to fill: VDAB calls it a priority list and says that vacancies for other professions are not always filled without problems either.
Source: VDAB, Knelpuntberoepen 2026 (read on 2026-10-23)