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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