Fig. 12 The bar chart shows the decrease in employment and production in the Sambre-Meuse mines. Kampen is a coalfield north of the Sambre-Meuse Valley.
Problems of industrial decline The traditional industries of engineering and chemicals that depended on coal as a raw material also declined. They could not compete with the modern petro-chemical industries and integrated steelworks located near the coast at Zelzate in Flanders. These new factories were offered cheap greenfield sites, lower labour costs, room to expand and non-unionised labour. They were linked by canal to the North Sea ports of Antwerp and Terneuzen through which American and Polish coal and iron ore from Sweden and West Africa were imported. From the 1960s Wallonia rapidly experienced high unemployment (over 20%) and had a
significantly lower GDP per capita than Flanders. The outdated factories, poor infrastructure, derelict buildings and unsightly spoil heaps were not an attractive environment for new investment. It quickly became a depressing place in which to live with few recreational facilities. Unemployment forced the migration of many Wallonian workers from the region, seeking work in the capital city of Brussels and in the newly-emerging modern industries in Flanders. Liège survived the worst effects of the decline in coal mining as it produced more specialised goods, e.g. weapons and crystal glass, and so industrial inertia prevented their closure. It also had a variety of industries not related to coal.
Fig. 13 Derelict landscape in Charleroi. This old coal mine has since been converted into a mining museum.