Mutual Learning Programme 2009
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MUTUAL LEARNING PROGRAMME:
PEER COUNTRY COMMENTS PAPER - BELGIUM
Can tailor-made training tackle temporary unemployment?
Peer Review on “Tailor-made training programmes”
Luxembourg, 23-24 April 2009
A paper submitted by GHK
in consortium with CERGE-EI and Michael Debusscher
Date: 3 April 2009
Mutual Learning Programme 2009
Peer Reviews (Spring)
This publication is supported for under the European Community Programme for Employment and
Social Solidarity (2007-2013). This programme is managed by the Directorate-General for
Employment, social affairs and equal opportunities of the European Commission. It was established
to financially support the implementation of the objectives of the European Union in the employment
and social affairs area, as set out in the Social Agenda, and thereby contribute to the achievement of
the Lisbon Strategy goals in these fields.
The seven-year Programme targets all stakeholders who can help shape the development of
appropriate and effective employment and social legislation and policies, across the EU-27, EFTAEEA and EU candidate and pre-candidate countries.
PROGRESS mission is to strengthen the EU contribution in support of Member States' commitments
and efforts to create more and better jobs and to build a more cohesive society. To that effect,
PROGRESS will be instrumental in:
•
providing analysis and policy advice on PROGRESS policy areas;
•
monitoring and reporting on the implementation of EU legislation and policies in PROGRESS
policy areas;
•
promoting policy transfer, learning and support among Member States on EU objectives and
priorities; and
•
relaying the views of the stakeholders and society at large
For more information see:
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=327&langId=en
The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the
European Commission.
Mutual Learning Programme 2009
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CONTENTS
1 LABOUR MARKET SITUATION IN BELGIUM................................................................................ 4
1.1 General figures ............................................................................................................................... 4
1.2 General labour market characteristics ........................................................................................... 6
1.3 Recent government initiatives to tackle unemployment .................Error! Bookmark not defined.
2 ASSESSMENT OF THE POLICY MEASURE................................................................................ 10
3 ASSESSMENT OF THE SUCCESS FACTORS AND TRANSFERABILITY ................................ 12
4 QUESTIONS ................................................................................................................................... 14
ANNEX 1: SUMMARY TABLE ............................................................................................................. 15
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1
LABOUR MARKET SITUATION IN BELGIUM
This paper has been prepared for a Peer Review within the framework of the Mutual Learning
Programme. It provides information on Belgium’s comments on the policy example of the
Host Country for the Peer Review. For information on the policy example, please refer to the
Host Country Discussion Paper.
1.1
General figures
Before starting the overview of the Belgian labour market, we need to emphasise that “the
Belgian labour market” as such does not exist. In Belgium, labour market, education and
vocational training policies are the responsibility of the community governments of the
different (linguistic) regions. Belgium's two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of
Flanders in the north, with approximately 59% of the population, and the French-speaking
southern region of Wallonia, inhabited by approximately 31% of the population. The BrusselsCapital Region, officially bilingual has 10% of the population. Furthermore eastern Wallonnia
Belgium has a small German-speaking community.
The national unemployment figures differ considerably between Flanders and Wallonia.
Unemployment in Wallonia is mainly structural, whilst in Flanders it is periodical. Flanders'
unemployment level is only half that of Wallonia.
Unemployment rate (Source: RVA, figures 2007)
Flanders: 6,05
Brussels: 19,94
Wallonia: 17,25
From the second half of 1999 onward, Belgian unemployment figures declined substantially to
8.5%, one percentage point below the European average. During the first semester of 2008
employment followed the 2007 positive evolution.
However, the economic crisis started showing in the last months. In Flanders for example the
unemployment figures of November showed an increase (+0.2%) which was also the case in
December (+3.9%), January (+9.8%) and February (+15.3%). At the end of March 2009,
Flanders had 191,563 unemployed which is 29,649 or 18.3% more compared to last year.
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Table 1: Monthly evolution of unemployment figures (Flanders, March 2008 – March
2009)
Month
Male
Female
Total
March 2008
-7,5%
-10,4%
-9,1%
April 2008
-5,0%
-9,7%
-7,5%
May 2008
-7,9%
-11,3
-9,7%
June 2008
-4,6%
-7,1%
-5,9%
July 2008
-6,5%
-8,9%
-7,8%
August 2008
-6,3%
-8,6%
-7,3%
September 2008
-1,6%
-7,0%
-4,5%
October 2008
+1,3%
-5,6%
-2,4%
November 2008
+5,1%
-4,1%
+0,2%
December 2008
+9,7%
-1,3%
+3,9%
January 2009
+18,3%
+2,2%
+9,8%
February 2009
+24,9%
+6,5%
+15.3%
March 2009
+30,5%
+7,3%
+18,3%
Besides these global figures we would like to detail the (un)employment rates of some
specific categories of people who are the main focus of Belgian labour market policy in
general and Flemish policy on employment in particular. For the Flemish government the
main focus and a lot of initiatives are taken to increase the employment of low skilled,
disabled (unable to work) individuals, immigrants and people above the age of 50.
Table 2: Evolution number of unemployed by category (Flanders, March 2000 – March
2009)
< 25 year
> 50 year
Disabled
Immigrants
Total
March
00
March
01
35776
13168
17139
21172
165688
35018
12660
16533
23276
155511
March 02
March 03
40688
14036
18260
27246
175041
45716
16748
19937
30954
190420
March
04
March
05
March
06
March
07
March
08
March
09
50338
21523
22369
35357
209465
48553
38034
27436
37449
227184
424085
44703
27456
31736
46139
27381
35880
178106
28983
45212
27719
33955
161914
39280
48106
30603
42273
191563
212610
Since the economic recession a large group of individuals have become “temporarily
unemployed” which means that they are still employees of a certain company but are
temporarily supported by the Public Service of Employment and Vocational Training. The goal
is that when the economy improves these individuals go back to work at their company.
As from the second quarter of 2008, employment slowed down and temporary unemployment
increased considerably. In the fourth quarter temporary unemployment figures exploded.
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Figure 1: Evolution of temporary unemployment (Flanders, Jan 2001 –Jan 2009)
Evolution temporary unemployment
Flanders jan 01 – jan 09
Temporary
Trend temporary
unemployment
unemployment
Source: RVA, bewerking Steunpunt WSE/Departement WSE
Between February 2008 and February 2009 temporary unemployment increased by 93.6%,
which is by far the highest rate since 2000. 289,381 workers were temporarily unemployed for
at least one day. This is an increase of approximately 70% compared to February 2008.
These workers are entitled to a benefit from the Rijksdienst voor Arbeidsvoorziening (RVA),
i.e. the national employment service.
We also see that, due to the economic recession, the proportion of higher qualified
unemployed individuals has increased (but is still lower than in Luxemburg). This together
with the global increase in unemployment might shift the current focus and may lead to a
refocusing of government’s priorities.
1.2
General labour market characteristics
Belgium is very vulnerable during worldwide recessions. The modern, private enterprise
economy of Belgium has capitalized on its central geographic location, highly developed
transport network, and diversified industrial and commercial base. Industry is concentrated
mainly in the populous Flemish area in the north, around Brussels and in the 2 biggest
Walloon cities: Liège and Charleroi. With few natural resources, Belgium must import
substantial quantities of raw materials and export a large volume of manufactured goods,
making its economy unusually dependent on the state of world markets. About 80% of
Belgium's trade is with fellow EC member states. Recession in fellow EC member states and
a worldwide financial crisis therefore have a significant impact on the Belgian economy. The
amount of unemployment resulting from company closures is 25% higher in 2008 compared
to 2007.
In the context of current EU challenges, goals and strategies in Belgium follow the 2010
objectives. In 2007 Belgium had an average employment rate of 62% (in 2002 60% and
objective is 70% in 2010). The average employment rate of women in 2007 was 55.3% (in
2002 51.4% and objective is 60% in 2010) and the average employment rate of older workers
(55-64 year) in 2007 was 34.4% (in 2002 26.6% and objective is 50% in 2010).
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Those figures differ for the different regions:
Table 3: Employment rates (Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels, 1997 – 2007)
Flanders
Wallonia
Brussels
1997
2007
1997
2007
1997
2007
average employment rate
59,9%
66,1%
52,9%
57,0%
52,6%
54,8%
employment rate of women
49,0%
59,8%
42,9%
49,6%
45,7%
48,3%
Source: RVA
Training and education are an important focus for the federal Belgian government, but
education, training and employment are the responsibility of regional/community government.
As a result of the constitutional changes in 1989, five regional institutions (VDAB, ACTIRIS,
FOREM, ADG en IBFFP) are now responsible for the intermediation and vocational training of
job-seekers and unemployed individuals. In dialogue with the community government and the
social partners and other stakeholders (such as education providers) these institutions take
initiatives to reduce unemployment rates. The federal government (Federal Public Service
Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue) is responsible for the global view on labour market
issues and the overall regulation of work.
If we look at the educational level of the unemployed, we see an increase of 16.7% within the
lower educated, 22.5% within the medium educated and 14.7% within the higher educated
cohort in the last year.
However, despite the recession, we still see quite of lot of vacancies in the so called
“bottleneck professions”. These vacancies are not aimed at higher educated individuals but
are more directed towards technical competences. This means that there has so far not been
a general drop in such “bottleneck vacancies”.
The recession affects the youngsters first. Due to the economic crisis companies recruit fewer
recent graduates which causes a problem in the flow to the labour market. The number of
young people in “waiting time” increased by 34.9%.
Young people have also been particularly affected by redundancies:
-
The decline in temporary employment contracts being offered affects them
disproportionately
-
They are affected by the commonly used ‘last in, first out’-rule.
The relationship between the recent evolution in unemployment trends and age is also
supported by the fact that unemployment increases at a slower rate for the oldest groups:
+18.8% in the age category 25 to 50 year and +6.4% in the over 50s category compared to
+35% in the category <25 years.
1.3
Recent government initiatives to tackle unemployment
From the year 2000, Belgium has increased its policy emphasis on ongoing competence
building. In the last decade or so, many reforms have been initiated in the field of education
and in the interface between education, training and employment. Competence management
and lifelong learning are the key focus in the current policy. For example, in Flanders a new
th
programme named the competence agenda (approved on the 14 May 2007 by the social
partners and the Flemish Government) consists of 10 priorities that aim to recognise and use
the capacities of students, job-seekers and employees alike, across the boundaries of
education and employment.
The priorities of the Competence Agenda are:
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Developing competences in education
Acquiring competences through learning and working
Action plan, independent entrepreneurship for education
Recognition of acquired competences in the labour market
Scaling up the approach to youth unemployment
A sound competence policy within companies and organisations
An age-conscious personnel policy
Competence development for the individual employee
Dealing with changing careers
The sectors as pivots for competence policy
38 million Euros are earmarked for these actions. The first 10 million Euros will be spent in
2007, and an annual 14 million Euros in 2008 and 2009. Both the Flemish Government and
the social partners endorse the importance of the agenda and explicitly commit themselves to
each of the 10 priorities.
The refection on competences, the EQF and the linked “learning stairs” (lifelong learning) are
according to our Flemish government one of the most important evolutions for the future. With
this in mind, the VDAB demanded that higher vocational education received level 5 in EQF.
To reach this goal there was a close cooperation with the higher education organisations (e.g.
financial support was given to vulnerable target groups for the EVC-procedures).
In response to the explosion of the rates of temporary unemployment both communities
(Flanders and Wallonia) have decided to provide free vocational training for temporary
unemployed employees. The core idea is to prepare these unemployed for a probable rise in
the economy and employment in 2010. The training can be suggested by the Service of
Employment and Vocational Training, by the individual or by sectors or enterprises. In
Flanders measures are taken to stimulate enterprises to suggest vocational training
programmes. For this programme the Flemish Service of Employment and Vocational
Training offers free training for 10,000 temporary unemployed individuals.
Tailor-made training for enterprises is not free (financial support by the enterprise) and
training can be stopped by the enterprise in case of a shortage of employees. This means
that the enterprise has to finance at least a part of the training (the other part is paid by the
government). The idea is to empower the individual after a period of temporary
unemployment and benefits the enterprise because it can focus on training in times of
recession.
As for Flanders it is very important to emphasise that in every case (even for vocational
training financed by the enterprise) the individual can chose to participate in or not.
Furthermore it is equally very important to mention that on the whole, the first focus of the
Public Service of Employment and Vocational Training is employment The first goal of the
Service is to find employment for the unemployed and in a second stage to empower the
employed by offering vocational training.
Policy initiatives are directed towards individual coaching and planning (“trajectbegeleiding”)
with a strong focus on employment. This means that an unemployed person is given an
instructor who will elaborate a plan of training and internships in cooperation with the
unemployed individual. As soon as the instructor is convinced that the unemployed individual
is ready to enter the labour market, he/she will encourage the unemployed person to apply for
a job. Sanctions can be applied to those individuals who fail to apply for jobs. If necessary, job
search training can be organized. Once the unemployed individual succeeds in finding a job,
the instructor will do the follow-up.
The policy is really aimed to vulnerable target groups in society and not towards target groups
that already have a strong position in the labour market. For these latter groups the VDAB
has the vision that need to be offered good instruments to help them on the labour market
such as a good database, automatic sending of vacancies via text message or e-mail.
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An exception from this is the social care sector because this is a booming sector (due to e.g.
the ageing of society) and remains a “bottleneck profession”. To strengthen employment in
this sector a close cooperation with the educational system has been established. The most
important reason therefore is that this sector is very diploma oriented and demands very
specific competences.
In the first instance, initiatives are developed towards people who drop out from higher
education. This group is continually increasing as more young people start higher education.
For this group, possibilities such as dentist assistant or nursing assistant are considered. In
line with this general vision, VDAB searches partners within higher education to ensure the
shortest possible way to teach and certify the competences needed. This can be achieved by
e.g. shortening of the learning period or more in general the acknowledgement of the
acquired competences.
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2
ASSESSMENT OF THE POLICY MEASURE
As mentioned before, in Belgium, vocational training is an initiative of the regional Services for
Employment and Vocational Training. Belgian tailor-made training is an example of a more
personalised approach to the needs on the labour market for both the enterprises and the
individual worker. This approach resulted in programmes on the recognition of competences
(for example the certificates of experiences ’Ervaringsbewijzen’ in Flanders, ‘Acqius de
l’expérience’ in Wallonia), personal career guidance, workplace learning etc for individuals. In
Wallonia tailor-made training is also a programme of the Service of Employment and
Vocational Training (FOREM) and the ‘Competence Centres’ (Centre de competence), which
are structured by sector.
In Flanders tailor-made training would be a programme of the Flemish Service for
Employment and Vocational Training (VDAB). After the reorganisation of the VDAB (May
2006), vocational training and competence management are under the direction of
‘Competence Centres’ (Competentiecentra). The competence centres are provincially
structured and are able to focus on regional needs. Tailor-made training as mentioned in the
Luxemburg case is not desirable for the Flemish Service for Employment and Vocational
Training (VDAB).
Examples for the paper of Luxemburg are reminiscent of the policy initiatives that were
established during the recession of the ‘80’s. In that period a lot of attention went to
unemployed individuals with a university degree. The labour market demanded highly
educated people but a lot of people with a university degree had the wrong diploma. This
forced us to go into “directed” education which resembles the current situation in the financial
sector in Luxemburg.
In that period a relatively large group of highly educated individuals were re-educated for
certain sectors (such as informatics) leading to career changes. At the time it was important to
work towards changes in mentality which meant that many graduates were keen to find jobs
closely related to their degrees, which for some subjects was not always possible (such as
Art, History and Archaeology). The re-education of these groups must have been the largest
initiative that has ever been taken towards the higher educated. During the following year’s
attention shifted from highly educated to lower skilled job seekers.
Experiences from the past have led the VDAB not to position itself closely to the training
requirements of companies, seeing specific training to be their responsibility rather than that
of the government. Instead, the VDAB focuses its vocational training and education offer
“bottleneck professions” through an intense cooperation with the sectors that can define the
needs and initiatives to be undertaken to solve the “bottleneck professions”.
A policy like tailor made training for specific companies is at the moment not desirable for
Flanders. In the past, such initiatives were undertaken but commitment and responsibilities
could not be enforced from the companies. The perception is that especially in times of
recession, the VDAB must not be used to offer company specific training. In addition,
authorities must be mindful that such initiatives do not infringe European competition law.
The experiences with company specific tailor made training in the past were not very
successful. On the one hand a lot of means (e.g. info sessions) were needed to reach the
target group and on the other hand companies could pull back with the excuse that their order
portfolio has shifted (e.g. no need for extra employees or no willingness to employ persons
from e.g. vulnerable target groups).
This is one of the reasons why Flanders uses the IBO’s (Individual Vocational Training) which
operates as follows:
-
A candidate expresses interest in a job as welder
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-
The competences of the candidate are screened
-
Basic training (e.g. level 3 of European Welding) is combined with an IBO with a
maximum of 6 months (exceptions are possible)
-
For the IBO a specific workplace is chosen where the persons can go in training. The
wage is determined by what a normal employed person would earn in that job.
-
During the IBO, the government keeps on paying the social security and the company
matches the difference with the normal wage for the job. This means that during this
period the individual will receive a normal wage which is very important as an
incentive and for the motivation of the individual.
-
The training plan is completely drawn up, signed and transformed into a contract. The
agreement is also that when the candidate finishes his IBO in the company, the
company hires this person.
-
The VDAD ensures follow-up for the candidate as well as for the company.
This approach has advantages for all parties involved and according to the VDAB is a much
better mechanism.
Another method for job intermediation used is regionally organised job dating. During job
datings companies with vacancies are invited together with a group of jobseekers. The
jobseekers are obliged to attend and sanctions can be applied to those who do not
participate. The method used is similar to speed dating between employers and jobseekers,
in the presence of a VDAB-consultant. This ensures follow-up for the jobseekers and a view
on their interests and competences. If necessary, these can be adjusted afterwards by way of
attitude training or training in applying for a job. The employers on the other hand can make
clear in which candidates they are interested and can invite these candidates for a more
thorough screening in their company or can decide in cooperation with the VDAB to start a
training plan (from attitude training to IBO).
However, in recent times the success of such initiatives has been limited as some companies
withdrew from the programme as they no longer had vacancies. To overcome such problems
the VDAB chooses to empower the individual to obtain the suitable skills and capacities to
obtain employment.
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3
ASSESSMENT OF
TRANSFERABILITY
THE
SUCCESS
FACTORS
AND
The tailor-made training programmes in Wallonia are very similar to those in Luxemburg. The
main objective is to tackle the problem of a lack of individuals with relevant qualifications in a
particular sector or company. In a broad perspective tailor-made training is one of the many
initiatives to improve the competences of individuals with, on one hand a focus on a better
match with labour market needs and on the other hand personal empowerment.
The Walloon part of Belgium follows quite closely what is being done in Luxemburg, but not
so much for the higher educated. Translated in EQF terms (European Qualification
Framework) Wallonia has more the ambition to direct the training/education towards level 5
and 6. In Flanders the ambition is somewhat lower with the aim at level 3 and 4.The
positioning of the VDAB is focused on activation strategy: fast and much focused activation of
unemployed with the focus on finding a job.
a. Quick start of the activation of an unemployed
b. Quick and purposeful action if the unemployed individual is not willing to look for a job
c.
Segmented and very specific follow-up and counselling (“trajectbegeleiding”) for
specific groups
d. After this, in second place, comes the career planning
e. Short training and education
Everything is done to make sure that the unemployed is employed as quickly as possible and
only after employment, empowerment comes into the picture to make sure they keep their
job, to give them a good follow-up and to establish a career perspective.
The current emphasis of providing vocational training and lifelong learning starts when an
unemployed individual is back in the labour market to ensure they update their skills regularly
to prevent them from entering unemployment again. The focus on this follow-up and
counselling (“trajectbegeleiding”) has among others led to a drop in the number of vocational
training programmes.
This however does not mean that there are no longer training programmes for the
unemployed. In some cases and for certain segments (e.g. 50+) a preceding training or
education is necessary. But even in those cases training in the framework of follow-up and
counselling (“trajectbegeleiding”) is made as short as possible.
Typical examples are the unemployed above 50 who are difficult to reintegrate in the labour
market. They receive another approach and treatment than young people, but rather
conversations with advice in how to turn their competences into a value for the labour market
without for example being fully employed. The question is “How to valorise your experience in
the labour market?”
1. Career planning (“loopbaanbegeleiding): As soon as the unemployed has a job, the
follow-up start with an offer of extra training/education. This is directed towards:
a. Strengthening the competences in the work place (short term)
b. Strengthening the competences in career perspective (long term)
2. Policy of opportunities (“kansenbeleid”)
a. Focus on lower educated people (e.g. unqualified dropout from the education
system), people unable to work (disabled), immigrants and people above 50.
b. Since the recession a new group has emerged: temporarily unemployed
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c.
Also for the vulnerable target groups this policy is followed (to get them employed
as soon as possible)
The same is true for the immigrants. Instead of investing a lot of time, means and energy in all
kind of training (e.g. Dutch) and education, a job is searched and after being employed
opportunities are offered for training and empowerment.
Because of this the focus shifts, where possible, from vocational training to training on the job.
This can be considered as tailor made training, but in contrast with Luxemburg, the individual
is central and not the company. Nevertheless in cooperation with the company the
competences of the individual are screened and if extra training is needed this will be offered.
This has also led to an increasing emphasis on flexible models of training delivery (for
example internet and distance learning). This kind of training/education is cheaper and allows
other employees to participate in the training. These kinds of training programs are very
suited for general training (e.g. knowledge of materials). Besides the online version of such
training, competence centres also offer most training programmes.
In addition to these basic and general training programmes the VDAB also offers internships.
Such training is developed in cooperation with the employers and gives the candidate the
opportunity to learn the job. If the jobseeker is still interested after this internship, a training
plan can be developed on the work place or in a competence centre.
All the internships are legally organized and fit within the broader vision and approach of the
IBO’s. In Flanders the choice has been made to combine a range of training with a broad
range of internships.
However we need to mention that in a time of recession the number of IBO’s has clearly
decreased as companies are forced to employ people who complete their six months of on
the job training which is hard to commit to in times of economic uncertainty.
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4
QUESTIONS
In the Belgian context assessment and recognition of learning programs are very important.
Up to now, it is mostly formal educational certifications that gain civil effect. Initiatives on
recognition of non-formal and informal learning are not yet very popular. How about the
assessment and certification of the tailor-made training programs in Luxemburg?
An important problem in Flanders seemed to be to enforce guarantees with the employers
that they will hire the candidates at the end of their period. How is this being enforced in other
countries?
How can we avoid that companies perceive these trainings as specific company training
programs? And how is this possible with the European Competition laws?
Maybe less relevant for Luxemburg, but how do vulnerable society groups fit in this story and
how can it been avoided that companies withdraw from the plan because they don’t want to
hire people from those groups?
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ANNEX 1: SUMMARY TABLE
Labour market situation in the Peer Country - Belgium
•
High unemployment rates for specific groups (lower educated, 50+, immigrants)
•
High demand for employees in ‘bottleneck proficiencies’
•
Low employment rates for higher educated
•
Recession may shift the focus for vocational training programs
Assessment of the policy measure
•
Initiatives for the unemployed are focused on specific groups
•
First employment then follow up, empowerment and career planning
•
Fast suspension when unemployed is not cooperating
•
Cooperation between education and Public Services for Employment and Vocational
Training
Assessment of success factors and transferability
•
A lack of trust in enterprises leads to empowerment of the individual instead of tailor made
training for companies
•
Very difficult to get vulnerable groups on the job
•
Strict rules between companies and Public Services for Employment and Vocational
Training
Questions
•
What about assessment and certification in tailor made programs?
•
How to enforce guarantees with the employers that they will hire the candidates at the end
of the training?
•
How can we avoid that companies perceive these trainings as specific company training
programs? And how is this possible with the European Competition Laws?
•
How do vulnerable society groups fit in these programs and how can it be avoided that
companies withdraw from the plan because they don’t want to hire people from those
groups?
15