consideration, is the most highly skilled and best paid job within the group of
production workers in the factory. This is further illustrated by Table 5, which shows
the range of wage costs for manual workers according to skill types in both Belgium
and Italy.
Table 5: Hourly wages for Italian and Belgian Labourers according to level of skills in
the leather footwear industry in 1999 (in EURO)
|
Level |
Classifications |
Italy |
Belgium |
|
Л |
Cutting parts of the upper and the sole, stitching of the inside sole, |
8,55 |
878 |
|
“2 |
Stretching the completed upper over a wooden form (the last) |
7,97 |
8,56 |
|
~3 |
Attaching the sole to the upper, tying up out-soles |
7,21 |
8,56 |
|
^^4 |
Includes all tasks of level 1,2,3 at the experience level between 3 and 6 |
6,89 |
826 |
|
^^5 |
Includes all tasks of level 1,2,3 at the experience level of 0 to 2 months |
6,6 |
806 |
|
"6 |
Completely perforating, stitching of front-feet’, inspecting the shoe, |
6,33 |
799 |
|
71 |
Not-completely perforating and stitching, polishing and packing |
605 |
789 |
|
"8 |
Includes all tasks of level 6,7 at the experience level of 0 to 2 months |
543 |
759 |
Source: Committee of Social Affairs (Belgium 1997), FILTA (1999)
It would appear that wage levels reflect the skill intensity of manual workers in the
leather footwear industry. Cutters, vampers, Goodyear stitchers, and so on, are of the
highest order of skill and receive the highest hourly wages. This reflects not only that
the nature of the job is quite complex, but also that it takes years of experience to work
up to full efficiency (Blim (1983)). In Italy those at the highest levels within the group
of production workers receive almost 60 per cent more in hourly wages than those at the
bottom of the skill spectrum. In Belgium the ratio is smaller at around 16 per cent.
Table 6 looks at the picture over time and presents the ratio of the wages of the most
skilled manual workers (level 1) to those classified as less skilled. The lack of
significant change in these ratios over time reflects the institutional structure of wage
setting in both of these countries. It is also clear that footwear produced within the key
categories of leather, plastic, rubber and textile shoes is far from homogeneous. Thus,
the extent to which production workers employed in the footwear industry in Europe
compete with unskilled labour elsewhere in the world depends on the quality of the
shoes produced. Higher quality shoes and more elaborate footwear styles require better
workmanship and so the need for firms to retain those with the highest degree of skills
15