Presentation by Klaas Soens (Assistant Adviser, FEB/VBO - Federation of Enterprises in Belgium) on the occasion of the EESC LMO meeting on Labour market shortages in a period of unemployment of 16 November 2011.

1. Labour market shortages in a
period of unemployment:
Best practices and possible
solutions
European Economic and Social Committee
Brussels, 16 November 2011
Klaas Soens
Deputy advisor researcher FEB

2. 1. Observations
l Also in Belgium: a relatively high
unemployment rate (6,7% in September <
9,7% EU-27) and a lot of critical vacancies
l FEB survey spring 2011: 4 on 10 companies
have vacancies > 3 months open + 1 on 4
had to cancel vacancies in 2010
l Construction: 1 on 2 cancel of vacancies,
retail: 29%, production: 23%,…
l Indeed, skills mismatch: 60% of unemployed
has no secondary education diploma and
86% has maximum this diploma
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3. 1. Observations
l But next to this: 64% of critical vacancies in
Flanders has no diploma demands and 50%
no experience demands
l 33% in 2000, 50% in 2005, 64% in 2010 →
companies the more the less demanding
l Increase in vacancies, even at the bottom of
the crisis, just 20% drop in labour demand
l Next 5 years: 500.000 vacancies will
probably be opened because of (early)
retirement
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4. 2. Best practices
l European Commission asks for follow-up of
unemployed: < 6 months for youth and < 12
months overall
l Belgium: follow-up since 2004: after 15
months for youth and 21 months overall,
under the age of 50 years
l Earlier regional training and coaching
l Since 2004: over the economic cycles 72.000
less longterm unemployed
l FEB asks for shorter terms of follow-up + to
the age of 60 and more
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5. 2. Best practices
Evolution du chômage de longue durée,
dans le groupe des moins de 50 ans et le groupe des plus de 50 ans
(Source: ONEM)
225,000
200,000 194,396
175,000
150,000
122,680
125,000
100,000 91,295
75,000
50,000 43,584
25,000
0
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 (Sept.)
Plus de 50 ans, chômage ≥ 2 ans Moins de 50 ans, chômage ≥ 2 ans
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6. 2. Best practices
l Promotion of local services: cleaning,
ironing,… subsidized jobs to make black
jobs white
l Good for low qualified (female) unemployed:
90.000 jobs (FTE)
l Support of the workforce (work/life balance)
l But expensive for the state budget
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7. 3. Further possible solutions
l Belgium has the most expensive
unemployment policy (3,79% of GDP in
2009), but not with the best results
l FEB asks for an EU-benchmark:
l Unemployment benefits limited in time +
more degressive (10% in Belgium for family
heads and singles contra 40% in Europe)
l Reform of “waiting allowance” for school
leavers: limited in time + evaluation of
training and job search efforts
l Idea of a progressive benefit for training (at
the regional level) 7

8. 3. Further possible solutions
Evolution du ratio de remplacement net des allocations de chômage,
en 5 ans, moyenne pour 2 niveaux de salaire et 4 types de ménage
(Source: CE et OCDE, 2011)
Allocation de chômage nette comparée au salaire net
90%
80%
71%
70% 65% 63%
60%
50%
antérieur
40% 35%
30%
20%
10%
0%
BE AT DK IE PT DE FR FI SE EU-15 UK ES NL LU EL IT
1° année Années 2-5
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9. 3. Further possible solutions
l More development of combination of school
and work: uniformisation and promotion →
to decrease the number of unqualified youth
l Further promotion of “individual professional
training”: 6 months of training on the job +
afterwards employment contract
l Longer working: mentality of all stakeholders
will change if the rules change → “the
reason why Swedish men work long is
because Swedish women work long”
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10. 3. Further possible solutions
l Investment in lifelong learning: but tripartite
responsibility and not just a company
investment → Belgian companies invest
yearly 1,6% of labour cost in training = equal
to EU-average (cf. Eurostat, CVTS3)
l No increase of minimum wage: among the
top 3 in Europe → OECD promotes the
opposite for Belgium: lower for the youth, as
in the Netherlands → to promote job
creation and reduce poverty
l First job is often step up for better job 10

11. Thank you for your attention !
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