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

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