IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izapps/pp176.html

Labour Market Policy if the General Public Was in Charge

Author

Listed:
  • Baert, Stijn

    (Ghent University)

  • Clays, Els

    (Ghent University)

  • Derous, Eva

    (Ghent University)

  • George, Bert

    (Ghent University)

  • Neyt, Brecht

    (Ghent University)

  • Schollaert, Eveline

    (Ghent University)

  • Wille, Bart

    (Ghent University)

Abstract

This study uses survey data among both a random sample (N = 500) and a convenience sample (N = 2,919) of Flemish adults to assess public support for 24 potential labour market reforms. The results show that there is a lot of public support for (both encouraged and mandatory) training and community service for the unemployed and for the so-called 'job bonus', which are all reforms planned by the Flemish government Jambon I. However, there is little public support for reforms which should make the – apparently strongly desired – increase of the minimum pension to 1,500 euro after taxes possible, such as gradually eliminating early retirement possibilities, decreasing how much equated periods (such as periods of sick leave and unemployment) count towards pension accrual, and (partly) unlinking wages from seniority. This indicates that the end-of-career-debate that the Belgian federal government De Croo I wants to have will not be an easy one. For the planned increased monitoring to fight social and fiscal fraud, there is, however, a lot of public support. Somewhat surprisingly, there is little public support for reforms which aim to strengthen the position of women on the labour market, such as more quota for women in boards of directors in private companies, more parental leave for couples who divide this leave more equally, and increased paternity leave from 10 to 20 days.

Suggested Citation

  • Baert, Stijn & Clays, Els & Derous, Eva & George, Bert & Neyt, Brecht & Schollaert, Eveline & Wille, Bart, 2021. "Labour Market Policy if the General Public Was in Charge," IZA Policy Papers 176, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izapps:pp176
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/pp176.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Van Borm, Hannah & Burn, Ian & Baert, Stijn, 2021. "What Does a Job Candidate's Age Signal to Employers?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    2. Stijn Baert, 2014. "Career lesbians. Getting hired for not having kids?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(6), pages 543-561, November.
    3. Bart Capéau & Lieve Eeman & Steven Groenez & Miet Lamberts, 2012. "Two concepts of discrimination: inequality of opportunity versus unequal treatment of equals," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2012-021, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    4. Sara Cools & Jon H. Fiva & Lars J. Kirkebøen, 2015. "Causal Effects of Paternity Leave on Children and Parents," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 117(3), pages 801-828, July.
    5. Erik Bjørsted & Elva Bova & Signe Dahl, 2016. "Lessons Learnt from the Nordics: How to Fight Long-term Unemployment," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 51(3), pages 172-178, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Julia Schmieder & Doris Weichselbaumer & Clara Welteke & Katharina Wrohlich, 2024. "Parental Leave and Discrimination in the Labor Market," Berlin School of Economics Discussion Papers 0054, Berlin School of Economics.
    2. Baert, Stijn, 2017. "Hiring Discrimination: An Overview of (Almost) All Correspondence Experiments Since 2005," GLO Discussion Paper Series 61, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Philippe Sterkens & Axana Dalle & Joey Wuyts & Ines Pauwels & Hellen Durinck & Stijn Baert, 2025. "Sexual orientation stereotypes and job candidate screening: why gay is (mostly) OK," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 1-40, March.
    4. Van Borm, Hannah & Baert, Stijn, 2022. "Diving in the minds of recruiters: What triggers gender stereotypes in hiring?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1083, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    5. Christina Boll & Julian Leppin & Nora Reich, 2014. "Paternal childcare and parental leave policies: evidence from industrialized countries," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 129-158, March.
    6. Bart Capéau & Lieve Eeman & Steven Groenez & Miet Lamberts, 2012. "Standardised Scores as a Way to measure and Compare Discrimination Across Dimensions," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2012-022, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    7. Sevrin Waights, 2022. "Parental Leave Benefits and Child Penalties," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 2016, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    8. repec:osf:socarx:7k95t_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Youngcho Lee, 2022. "Is Leave for Fathers Pronatalist? A Mixed-Methods Study of the Impact of Fathers’ Uptake of Parental Leave on Couples’ Childbearing Intentions in South Korea," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(4), pages 1471-1500, August.
    10. Hannah Van Borm & Marlot Dhoop & Allien Van Acker & Stijn Baert, 2020. "What does someone's gender identity signal to employers?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 41(6), pages 753-777, March.
    11. Natalia Danzer & Victor Lavy, 2018. "Paid Parental Leave and Children's Schooling Outcomes," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(608), pages 81-117, February.
    12. Laetitia Challe & Yannick L'Horty & Pascale Petit & François-Charles Wolff, 2018. "Les discriminations dans l'accès à l'emploi privé et public : les effets de l'origine, de l'adresse, du sexe et de l'orientation sexuelle," Working Papers halshs-01878469, HAL.
    13. Sébastien Fontenay & Libertad González Luna, 2025. "When fathers step in: Long-term consequences of early paternal involvement," Economics Working Papers 1934, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    14. Alessandra Casarico & Edoardo Di Porto & Joanna Kopinska & Salvatore Lattanzio, 2025. "Leave and Let Leave: Workplace Peer Effects in Fathers’ Take-up of Parental Leave," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 25126, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    15. Libertad González Luna & Lidia Farré, 2017. "The effects of paternity leave on fertility and labor market outcomes," Economics Working Papers 1572, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    16. Philippe Sterkens & Adelina Sharipova & Stijn Baert, 2024. "Disclosing the ‘Big C’: what does cancer survivorship signal to employers?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 25(4), pages 671-688, June.
    17. S. Baert & B. Cockx & N. Gheyle & C. Vandamme, 2013. "Do Employers Discriminate Less if Vacancies Are Difficult to Fill? Evidence From a Field Experiment," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 13/830, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    18. Philippe Sterkens & Stijn Baert & Claudia Rooman & Eva Derous, 2021. "Why making promotion after a burnout is like boiling the ocean," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 21/1017, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    19. Curristan, Sarah & McGinnity, Frances & Russell, Helen & Smyth, Emer, 2022. "Early childhood education and care in Ireland North and South," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS157.
    20. Maryam Dilmaghani, 2019. "Sexual orientation and the ‘cohabitation gap’ in life satisfaction in Canada," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1163-1189, December.
    21. Gordon B. Dahl & Katrine V. L?ken & Magne Mogstad, 2014. "Peer Effects in Program Participation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(7), pages 2049-2074, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General
    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • J58 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Public Policy
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy
    • J78 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Public Policy (including comparable worth)

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izapps:pp176. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.