ADJUSTMENT TO GLOBALISATION: A STUDY OF THE FOOTWEAR INDUSTRY IN EUROPE



manual workers with higher skills and higher wages. What is not apparent is whether
this reflects skill specificity or wage inflexibility of this group of manual workers.

The duration of unemployment of the least skilled footwear workers is, on average,
less than that of the group of manual textile workers.

The duration of unemployment of non-manual workers in Belgium is considerably
less than that of manual workers.

Table 7: Duration of Unemployment in footwear and total manufacturing * in Belgium

Less than 1 month

1-3 months

3-6 months

6-12 months

STU/TOTU**

LTU/TU***

1. Cutting, stitching and pinning-footwear_______________________________

1988

0.02

0.04

0.03

0.17

025

0.75

1998

0.04

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.16

0.84

2. Not completely perforating and stitching and polishing-footwear_____________________

1988

0.07

0.06

0.14

0.12

0.40

060

1998

0.03

0.04

0.08

0.14

0.28

0.72

3. Spinning, weaving and knitting-textiles_______________________________________________

1988

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.10

0.22

078

1998

0.02

0.05

0.06

0.09

0.22

0.78

4. manuals-total industry_______________________________________________________________

1988

0.04

0.06

0.07

0.13

0.30

07Ô

1998

0.04

0.06

0.07

0.14

0.31

0.69

5. non-manuals-total industry__________________________

1988

0.05

0.07

0.09

022

043

057

1998

0.06

0.07

0.08

0.18

0.39

0.61

* based on number of job searchers registered_______________________________________________________

** ratio short term unemployed/total unemployed____________________________________________________

*** ratio of long term unemployed/total unemployed_________________________________________________

Source: Belgian Federal Ministry of Labour_________________________________________________________

So, for the footwear sector we find a degree of heterogeneity within the group of
workers classified as manual both in terms of wage rates and unemployment duration.
In Belgium, those manual footwear workers who receive the highest wage rates are also
likely to experience longer terms of unemployment. This finding, which needs to be
supported by data for other countries and other industries, is suggestive that training
programmes which seek to upgrade the skills of manual workers to aid their re-entry
into employment, could be more efficient if targeted at particular groups of manual
workers, those which have a higher degree of skill but which may be highly sector
specific.

4. Responses to Increased International Competition

4.1 Changes in Productivity Levels

18



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