IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/
MyIDEAS: Login to save this paper or follow this series

Youth Unemployment in Belgium: Diagnosis and Key Remedies

Author Info

  • Cockx, Bart

    ()

    (Ghent University)

Abstract

In Belgium youth unemployment is structurally higher than the European (EU27) average, in particular for the low educated. In this study we set a diagnosis of the main structural factors and advance key remedies. We analyze the system of employment protection, education and passive and active labor market policies. A high minimum wage, a strict separation between school and work, and a vertically segmented schooling system with high retention rates and too early tracking are identified as main causal factors. Strict employment protection legislation is only concern for high-skilled youth. Reducing labor costs at low wages and a fundamental schooling reform that aims at dismantling the strict barrier between school and work are proposed as key remedies. In addition, youth should be entitled as of the start of unemployment to a low benefit based on the principle of “mutual obligation”. Very intensive and durable guidance is to be targeted to the low educated.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://ftp.iza.org/pp66.pdf
Download Restriction: no

Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Policy Papers with number 66.

as
in new window

Length: 16 pages
Date of creation: Jul 2013
Date of revision:
Publication status: published in: Intereconomics, 2013, 48 (4), 202-209
Handle: RePEc:iza:izapps:pp66
Contact details of provider: Postal: IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany
Phone: +49 228 3894 223
Fax: +49 228 3894 180
Web page: http://www.iza.org

Order Information: Postal: IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany
Email:


Keywords: youth unemployment; employment protection; education; active and passive labor market policies; Belgium;

Find related papers by JEL classification:

  • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
  • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
  • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

as in new window
  1. Bart Cockx & Matteo Picchio, 2009. "Are Short-Lived Jobs Stepping Stones to Long-Lasting Jobs?," CESifo Working Paper Series 2569, CESifo Group Munich.
  2. Schwerdt, Guido & West, Martin R., 2013. "The Effects of Test-based Retention on Student Outcomes over Time: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Florida," IZA Discussion Papers 7314, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  3. François Rycx & Stephan Kampelmann, 2013. "Who Earns Minimum Wages in Europe? New Evidence Based on Household Surveys," Working Papers CEB 13-002, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
  4. Bart Cockx & Matteo Picchio, 2011. "Scarring Effects of Remaining Unemployed for Long-Term Unemployed School-Leavers," CESifo Working Paper Series 3565, CESifo Group Munich.
  5. Stijn BAERT & Bart COCKX, 2013. "Pure Ethnic Gaps in Educational Attainment and School to Work Transitions. When Do They Arise?," Discussion Papers (IRES - Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales) 2013005, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
  6. Cockx, Bart & Van der Linden, Bruno, 2009. "Flexicurity in Belgium: A Proposal Based on Economic Principles," IZA Policy Papers 9, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  7. David Card & Jochen Kluve & Andrea Weber, 2010. "Active Labour Market Policy Evaluations: A Meta-Analysis," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(548), pages F452-F477, November.
  8. Cockx, Bart & Dejemeppe, Muriel, 2012. "Monitoring job search effort: An evaluation based on a regression discontinuity design," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 729-737.
  9. Zimmermann, Klaus F. & Biavaschi, Costanza & Eichhorst, Werner & Giulietti, Corrado & Kendzia, Michael J. & Muravyev, Alexander & Pieters, Janneke & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria & Schmidl, Ricarda, 2013. "Youth Unemployment and Vocational Training," Foundations and Trends(R) in Microeconomics, now publishers, vol. 9(1–2), pages 1-157, December.
    • Biavaschi, Costanza & Eichhorst, Werner & Giulietti, Corrado & Kendzia, Michael J. & Muravyev, Alexander & Pieters, Janneke & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria & Schmidl, Ricarda & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2012. "Youth Unemployment and Vocational Training," IZA Discussion Papers 6890, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  10. Baert, Stijn & Cockx, Bart & Gheyle, Niels & Vandamme, Cora, 2013. "Do Employers Discriminate Less If Vacancies Are Difficult to Fill? Evidence from a Field Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 7145, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  11. Peter Z. Schochet & John Burghardt & Sheena McConnell, 2008. "Does Job Corps Work? Impact Findings from the National Job Corps Study," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1864-86, December.
  12. Kramarz, Francis & Philippon, Thomas, 2000. "The Impact of Differential Payroll Tax Subsidies on Minimum Wage Employment," IZA Discussion Papers 219, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  13. Marc Piopiunik, 2013. "The Effects of Early Tracking on Student Performance: Evidence from a School Reform in Bavaria," Ifo Working Paper Series Ifo Working Paper No. 153, Ifo Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
  14. Bruno Van der Linden, 2007. "Un regard sur le rapport de l'OCDE : Des emplois pour les jeunes," Discussion Papers (IRES - Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales) 56, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.

as in new window


Cited by:

  1. Bart Cockx & Corinna Ghirelli, 2014. "Scars Of Recessions In A Rigid Labor Market," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 14/894, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Access and download statistics

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izapps:pp66. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Mark Fallak)

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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

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

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis using RePEc data.