OECD Peer review on developing highly-skilled workers 1 BELGIUM

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1 OECD Peer review on developing highly-skilled workers 1 BELGIUM Belgium is characterised by a rather unique institutional set-up. It is a federal state, comprising six entities : three communities (Flemish community, French community, German-speaking community) and three regions (Flemish region, Walloon region, Brussels Capital region). They all have their own parliament and their own government (although the Flemish community and region have been merged, there is one Flemish Parliament and one Flemish Government for both the region and the community.), and have their own exclusive competencies. A community is defined in terms of culture and language; a region is defined in terms of geographical territory. The principal areas of competence of the communities are cultural matters, personal matters and education. The regions are the competent authorities in the areas of economic policy, energy policy, the environment, housing, transport and public works. Within this institutional framework, competence in employment policy has been apportioned as follows: the federal authority remains responsible for social security (including the unemployment insurance) and for labour law (working time, health and safety at work, undeclared work, ) the communities are responsible for vocational training and further training job placement and schemes for returning fully unemployed or equivalent persons to work fall within the competence of the regions Communities are the principal competent authorities in education policy. Only the pensions of the staff of educational institutions, compulsory education regulations and the definition of the minimum conditions for obtaining a degree are within the federal competences. In the paragraphs below, the most important trends are described with a particular emphasis on Belgium a whole. On the policy-level, where necessary, a distinction has been made between the regions/communities. More detailed data tables and original documents provided by the regions, communities can be consulted in the annexes. Highly-skilled people are defined as those people with university and non-university tertiary educational attainment (ISCED 5_6) 1 This document contains the Belgian contribution to the peer review on developing highly-skilled workers; as a part of the OECD project Micro-policies for growth and productivity Committee on Industry and Business Environment (CIBE). The answers of the various concerned ministries are centralized and joined together by the Belgian Federal Planning Bureau. We thank Wouter Appeltans (Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeeschap Administratie Werkgelegenheid), Sandrine De Crom and Isabel Vanwiele (Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap Administratie Economie), Isabelle Erauw (Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap Departement Onderwijs) Jeroen Fiers, Koen Henderickx, Chantal Kegels and Joost Verlinden (Federaal Planbureau), and Béatrice Van Haeperen (IWEPS Walloon region) for their contributions to the completion of this report.

2 2 A. DATA ON TRENDS IN DEVELOPMENT OF THE HIGHLY- SKILLED 1.Supply and demand trends What shortages of highly-skilled workers have been identified in the national economy? Have potential mismatches in supply and demand for certain categories of highly-skilled workers been highlighted (e.g. science and technology workers) The highly-skilled job vacancies are not especially identified as labour market bottlenecks by any of the three regional public employment services (VDAB, FOREM and ORBEM) 2. Given the substantial regional differences between the labour markets, the following highly-skilled professions are mentioned in each of the Belgian regions as bottleneck professions, due to qualitative and quantitative reasons: engineers, qualified technicians, IT-specialists and commercial and managerial/executive functions. A common characteristic in the Belgian regions is the relative large part of bottleneck vacancies in the total number of vacancies especially aimed at the highly-skilled people with a non-university college degree (graduates of colleges for higher education ISCED5a and ISCED5b). 2. Industry training What share of workers participate in job-related training after leaving university? To what extent do enterprise and individuals invest in post-university training? Is there a marked gap in training expenditures by large and small firms? Participation in industry training has significantly improved in Belgium during the last few years. The two main sources to measure the participation rate in Belgian enterprises are: CVTS3 and the Social Balance Sheets (a part of the enterprises annual accounts) 3. Unfortunately, for none of the sources, data exist on the continual training by skill level. Table 1: Participation in life long learning by sex and educational attainment (% of age class) Low Medium High Total (ISCED 0/1/2) (ISCED3/4) (ISCED5/6) M W Tot. M W Tot. M W Tot. M W Tot. Brussels Region Flemish Region Walloon Region BELGIUM Source: LFS The results of Social Balance sheets (2002) indicate that respectively 10.9% and 39.8% of the Belgian enterprises and employees participated in some kind of job-related training. Especially the informal forms of continuous vocational training are widespread in Belgium. In % of the labour costs were spent by Belgian enterprises on some form of continuous vocational 2 The regional public employment services use different methodologies to identify the potential mismatches between supply and demand on the labour market. 3 Because the CVTS only covers enterprises with 10 or more employees and excludes agriculture and the health sector, CVTS results are not comparable with the information obtained by the Social Balance sheet.

3 3 training 4. Apart from the differences between the branches, a marked gap can be observed between large and small firms in training expenditures (% of total labour costs) and in participation rates of employees and enterprises in job-related training 5. Apart from the specific questionnaires on job-related training, data on the participation in life long learning, by skill level are available for the three Belgian regions (% of years age class). Nevertheless, the observed regional differences, in each Belgian region the participation in life long learning increases with the skill level. Compared to the medium-skilled, nearly twice as much of the higly-skilled participated in some form of life long learning. During the last few years, the participation rate in life long learning has risen in Belgium. 3. National Workers mobility What are the rates of job change among highly-skilled workers? What is the degree of mobility between public and private research sectors? The rate of job change varies a lot between the Belgian regions. Compared to 6.0% at the national level, only 3.9% of the people employed in the Walloon region, changed from job in the year before the survey. The rate of job change differs not so much by educational attainment. In % of the high skilled Belgian employees had changed between one job to another, compared to 6.6% among the medium skilled. Table 2: Rate of job change by region and education level (% total employment) Low Medium High Total Brussels Region 4.6 (4.4) 5.9 (6.3) 7.0 (7.6) 6.1 (6.4) Flemish Region 5.7 (5.3) 7.8 (7.4) 6.8 (6.5) 6.9 (6.5) Walloon Region 3.4 (3.4) 4.0 (3.6) 4.2 (4.0) 3.9 (3.7) BELGIUM Source: LFS Remark: (i) The rate of job change is defined as the percentage of total employment (people aged between 15 and 64 years) that changed between one job to another over a two year period. It does not include inflows into the labour market from a situation of unemployment or inactivity (ii) region of employment (region of living) Although the job mobility from the public to the private sector is still limited: 7.2% of the people that moved to a new a job in the private sector, were previously employed by the public sector. 43.3% of those who occupied a new job in the public sector, left their job in the private sector 6. Contrary to the differences in the rate of job change between the age classes, no remarkable differences can be observed between high-skilled Belgian men and women. 4 There exist an agreement between Belgian employers and trade unions to increase the expenditures for job-related training to 1,9% in In 2002, following the results of the Social Balance sheets respectively 5.9%, 55.6% and 85.7% of the small, medium and large firms provided some for of job-related training to their employees. Similar differences can be observed for training expenditures as a percentage of total labour costs): small firms (0.25%), medium firms (0.77%) and large firms (1.97 %) 6 No data are available to measure the degree of job mobility betwen the public and private research sectors.

4 4 4. International worker mobility What is the migration rate into and out of the country for highly skilled workers? What is the migration rate into and out of the country for information technology (IT) workers Both European and non-european immigrants are less educated than the nationals, following the results of the LFS survey. Nevertheless the most recent migrants from the non European countries are more skilled than the previous waves but still less than nationals. The group of non-european highly-skilled represents 0,8% of the total highly-skilled living in Belgium. Data originating from the LFS also indicate regional differences in the skill composition of immigrants from European and non-european countries. In 2000 the largest group of the new highly-skilled immigrants receiving a work permit in Belgium, came from the USA, followed by Japan and India 7. Following the European Commission brain drain study, 6% of the IT professionals in Belgium were foreign citizens in 2001, what was one of the highest share in the EU. Table 3: Skill Structure of the Belgian population aged LFS (average ) In percent of the population In percent of Group low Medium High Total low Medium High National EU Including recent immigration Other countries Including recent immigration TOTAL Source: Debuisson M. et Al (2004), Immigration and aging in the Belgian Regions, Brussels Economic Review (forthcoming) Remark: Recent immigration = less than 11 years of residence As well as many other European countries, Belgium is confronted with an increasing brain drain of highly-skilled people, and especially of the top researchers. However, as far as we know, until today no official figures are available in Belgium. An indication of the international mobility of the highly skilled in Belgium, is the share of highly-skilled (people with university education and PhD s) in the group of Belgian nationals living and working in the United States (26.7%) 8. This part is quite large compared to other European countries and to the share of those people with university education within total Belgium population. The relative narrow earnings gap between people with a university degree and those with upper secondary and post-secondary non tertiary education) could be one of the reasons why top researchers and other highly-skilled people are leaving the country 7 FPS Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue (2003) L immigration en Belgique 8 Figures of the US Bureau of the Census (2000) published in het Rapport over de concurrentievermogen van de Vlaamse Economie (2003)

5 5 Figure 1: Relative earning of the population with university-level education and those with advanced research programmes (upper secondary and post-secondary non tertiary education = 100) United States United Kingdom Spain Portugal Netherlands Italy Ireland Germany France Finland Demark Belgium Source: OECD Education at a Glance 2002 Remark: Earnings are annual money earnings as direct payment for labour services provided, before taxes. Income from other sources, such as government social transfers, investment income, net increase in the value of an owner operated business and any other income not directly related to work are not to be included. 5. Highly-skilled females: What is the employment rate for women with university education? Is there a gender gap in the employment and post-university training of highly-skilled males and females? Table 4: Employment rate by sex and highest level of education attained (%) Women Men Low Medium High Low Medium High Brussels Capital Region (76.0) (85.2) Flemish Region (83.5) (87.0) Walloon Region (76.6) (86.6) BELGIUM (80.0) (86.6) Source: LFS Remark: (i) Employment rate : persons in employment as a percentage of the population of working age (aged between 15 and 64 years) (ii) annual averages (iii) between brackets: employment rate of people with a university degree. The proportion of female researchers in all sectors (28%) and in business enterprises (20%) is very low in Belgium, compared to other European countries. For all European member states, female researchers are rarer in the business enterprise sector. Despite the already reversed gender gap in educational attainment in favour of women (especially for the female share in educational attainment), there is still prove of a gender gap in the academic world in the Flemish and French Community. Although there is a balance between male and female university students, the disequilibrium at the top of the academic world is impressive. This disequilibrium is most pronounced for the lecturers, professors and extra-ordinary and ordinary professors. One of the reasons is that it takes time for the female university graduates to take up high academic positions.

6 6 Figure 2: Gender gap in the academic world (%) Female Gender gap in academic world - French Community Male Stud. Insc. Stud. Gr. Adv. Insc. Adv. Gr. Ass. Phd Gr. Lect. Prof. Extr. Ord. And Ord. Prof Stud. Insc. Gender gap in acadamic world - Flemish Community (2002) Stud. Gr. Adv. Insc. Adv. Gr. Ass. Phd Gr. Lect. Prof. Extr. Ord. And Ord. Prof. Source: Own Calculations based upon statistics provided by Tweede Gelijke kansen rapport Statistical Compendium, Conseil des Recteurs des université francophones de Belgique), Statistisch Jaarboek (Flemish Administration for Education Remarks: Due to differences in the categories of academic staff (especially professors), between the communities, data could not be aggregated. Foreign students and staff are included (i) Stud Insc: number of students enrolled in universities (ii) Stud. Gr.: number of students graduated at universities (iii) Adv. Advanced research programmes (v) Ass: Assistants (vi) Lect: Lecturers (vii) Prof: Professors (viii) Extr. Ord. and Ord. Prof. : Extra-ordinary and ordinary Professors Female Male

7 7 B. GOVERNMENT POLICIES/PROGRAMMES FOR DEVELOPING THE HIGHLY-SKILLED 1 Supply and demand What approaches (e.g. forecasts, surveys) does the government use to understand and predict industry demand for the highly-skilled? What steps are taken to build on market signals (e.g. vacancies, relative wages) to better match supply and demand for highlyskilled workers? The three regional public employment services in Belgium use data on job vacancies to understand the possible mismatch between supply and demand for labour. Each of them publishes on an annual base a report on the identified labour market bottlenecks. The information from those reports could be used by the public employment services to tailor individual counseling and training for jobseekers. For example, every year about 18,000 Flemish jobseekers are given a jobtraining of which 35% is oriented to professions in which labour market shortages are identified. Specific initiatives planned in the near future in the Walloon Region are the construction of a système intégré d anticipation du march du travail and IDEE (Identification des embauches en enterprises). Similar analyses to identify labour market bottlenecks are made by sector employer organizations. It has to be noted that none of these initiatives are specifically oriented to highskilled professions. In the Flemish region a sector specific initiative was taken in the education sector to understand and predict future supply and demand of teachers. 2. Enterprise training What rules or incentives (e.g. tax credits, grants) are applied to enterprises to increase investments in worker training? Are there special initiatives to encourage smaller enterprises to train more? Both the Flemish and Walloon government encourage companies to invest in their employees. A system of training vouchers for employers has been launched in each region as one of the principal government initiatives to increase investments in worker training. Although the regional differences in the criteria for eligibility, organization, and overall budget, the system of vouchers offers companies, in each region, a financial support for the cost of employees undertaking training offered by recognized training providers. Contrary to the Flemish region, the target group of the system of vouchers in the Walloon Region is restricted to self-employed workers and small enterprises (<50 employees). The principal users of the training vouchers in the Walloon region were the self-employed workers and the enterprises with less than 10 employees. However due to the limited amount of vouchers per year (200), irrespective of the size of the company, the measure in the Flemish region reached particularly small and medium enterprises. Due to the success of the measure 9, the overall budget has been increaded considerably in both regions. With an increasing success the skill centres (Centres de Compétence 10 ) in the Walloon region are involved in worker training programmes for job-seekers, employees (managers as well as executives) and professors. They focus on a specific industry and they provide demand-led 9 Flemish and Walloon companies bought in 2002 respectively approximately 715,000 and 485,365 training vouchers. In 2003 the budget in the Flemish region has been increased to about 35 million or 0.025% of the regional GDP. 10 Skill Centers are an initiative of the social partners in Wallonia and the public employment service FOREM, with a strong support from the Walloon Ministry of Employment and Training.

8 8 technology-based training in close cooperation with partners in industry. The yearly progress report of the skill centres in operation in the Walloon Region, confirm that the centres have more than met their quantitative targets at least regarding the number of trained persons: While in 2000 approximately 2,500 unemployed and 5,300 employed persons were trained, the participation has risen to approximately 6,500 unemployed and 11,600 employed persons in More difficult to measure are the qualitative targets. Apart from the skill centres FOREM continues to provide training programmes ( FOREM formation). The FOREM formation programmes have recently obtained a ISO9001 certificate, what give prove of the quality of the training programmes. VDAB in the Flemish Region also provides courses for employees at employers or employees request in centres established with the support of the companies and or recognised centres. Those centres organise training programmes adapted to the specific needs of the sectors in close cooperation with the sectors. Another initiative launched in the Walloon Region is the Aides à la création, l extension et la reconversion d entreprises et aide a la création des centres de formation en entreprises. The first program consists of financial support that is granted to enterprises for the training offered to workers as a result of the investment in new technologies, the introduction of a quality system,. The second initiative supports the creation of very specific training centres in the enterprises at the request of enterprises. In these training centres, specific technical training programmes are organised for employees (75%) and job-seekers (25%). In the Brussels Capital Region, the initiative Bruxelles Formation has been launched in cooperation with ORBEM and with the financial support of the French Community. Training programs are organised for job-seekers and employees at the request of and or in close cooperation with employers. 3. Individual training What measures are in place to stimulate individual investments in postuniversity training (e.g. tax incentives, grants, individual learning accounts)? In addition to the already mentioned employee courses at employers request in each of the regions, public employment services also provide practically-oriented and high-tech training programs for job-seekers. All those training courses are organised in close cooperation with the different branches. The main goal of these training programs is to increase the chances on the labour market of job-seekers or employed persons and to find quickly a good new job. Apart from the training vouchers for employers, a specific system of training vouchers for employees has been launched in the Flanders region to stimulate life long learning. Through the voucher system, individual employees receive a 50% subsidy when undertaking labour market oriented training or career counselling offered by a recognised provider. The maximum yearly subsidy amounts to 150. In 2004, the budget for training vouchers for employees amounts to about 11 million of % of Flemish GDP 12. Slightly more applicants were female (56.4%) and highly skilled are slightly overrepresented. Most popular courses are IT and languages. Other public initiatives in the Flemish region are: career guidance or job application coaching (offered by local skill centres or orientation centres), ervaringsdiploma s (recognition of knowledge/competences acquired outside the official education system). 11 The data for 2000 and 2002 cover respectively 9 and 10 centers. Today 14 centers are in place and 9 new ones are expected for Wiht more than 120,000 vouchers sold in the first 6 months after the launch of the measure in September 2003, the demand for training vouchers was higher than anticipated and extra funds had been reserved.

9 9 Federal initiatives such as career break ( interruption de carrière et credit-temps ) and paid education leave can give the individuals the necessary financial incentives and or some financial security, to interrupt their professional career with the aim to invest in education. Another initiative launched in each of the communities to stimulate individual learning are the distance learning programmes. Target groups are (i) Employees who need to enhance their job skill but whose work schedules make it impossible to attend daytime or evening classes. (ii)mothers and fathers with young children who fit their studies around their families needs (iii) People who want to refurbish what they have learned at secondary school or who still want to obtain a secondary school s certificate 4. Worker mobility What steps has the government taken to increase the mobility of highlyskilled workers in the private sector and between the public and private sectors? What initiatives are in place to affect international inflows and outflows of highly-skilled workers? Despite the attention that has been paid to the job mobility of workers at both regional and federal policy levels, no specific programmes have been launched to increase the mobility of skilled workers. Nevertheless the validation of informal acquired knowledge or competences as well as the systems of training vouchers for employees, career counselling and transparent information about training opportunities are considered to have a positive impact on the job mobility of (highly-skilled) workers. Due to a rather restrictive policy with respect to the work permits, the recruitment and inflow of foreign workers is still limited in Belgium. However there are special considerations for some categories of high-skilled workers (for example R&D and IT). 5. Highly-skilled females What steps has the government taken to increase labour force participation by highly-skilled women? Have special initiatives been taken to increase female participation in the science and technology workforce? Besides the participation in the EQUAL 13 community initiative programmes, the launch of the Institut pour l égalité des femmes et des hommes and some initiative to increase childcare provision, not many specific measures to increase labour force participation by women could be identified in Belgium. Although participation in training is considered by the respective governments as an important element to increase labour force participation of (highly-skilled) women. 6. Evaluations What have been the results of evaluations of these policies and programmes? Are any policy reforms proposed in the near future? 13 EQUAL is part of the European Union's strategy for more and better jobs and for ensuring that no-one is denied access to them. Funded by the European Social Fund, EQUAL will test new ways of tackling discrimination and inequality experienced by those in work and those looking for a job. One of the themes focuses on the equal treatment of women and men in relation to access to employment, training, vocational or career advancement and working conditions (

10 10 Contact persons Wouter Appeltans Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap Administratie Werkgelegenheid Cel EU-beleid en Monitoring Sandrine De Crom Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap Administratie Economie Cel Innovatie en Ondernemerschap Isabelle Erauw Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap Departement Onderwijs Afdeling Begroting en Gegevensbeheer Béatrice Van Haeperen IWEPS Institut Wallonne de l Evaluation, de la Prospective et de la Statistique b.vanhaeperen@mrw.wallonie.be Joost Verlinden Federaal Planbureau Sectorale Directie jv@plan.be

11 11 Annexes Employment rate by sex and educational attainment Female Male Brussels Low Medium High Low Medium High ,9 41,3 72,7 51,5 58,1 84, ,7 50,7 71,3 49,1 61,2 79, ,4 44,8 70,0 49,0 60,3 76, ,2 45,3 67,4 47,0 58,8 75, ,2 45,9 69,9 43,8 60,7 78, ,0 46,7 70,5 44,6 60,8 80, ,4 46,6 75,3 45,0 57,9 83, ,1 48,1 78,3 43,9 61,2 85, ,5 47,6 75,7 45,6 58,8 83, ,5 46,5 73,8 45,7 62,6 81, ,0 47,0 75,5 43,6 61,1 83,7 Flanders Reg. Low Medium High Low Medium High ,3 55,2 79,8 61,6 77,1 89, ,7 54,5 78,6 58,3 74,9 88, ,6 53,6 78,7 56,3 74,6 89, ,0 55,5 80,0 56,8 75,8 90, ,5 53,2 79,7 55,3 76,9 89, ,9 55,7 80,5 54,9 77,1 89, ,6 55,3 80,7 54,8 76,9 89, ,9 60,1 82,5 57,2 77,0 90, ,1 60,3 82,7 58,2 78,5 90, ,7 59,9 81,5 56,7 77,7 89, ,9 60,0 81,4 56,9 77,1 87,2 Walloon Reg. Low Medium High Low Medium High ,1 48,0 78,3 52,2 68,4 88, ,6 49,8 78,1 52,0 69,1 86, ,0 47,9 76,6 51,9 67,6 83, ,6 47,2 75,1 49,3 69,2 84, ,0 45,8 74,8 47,5 68,4 84, ,6 45,8 75,4 47,0 68,8 85, ,5 47,9 75,2 50,1 68,8 85, ,3 49,4 76,6 51,1 69,9 87, ,5 50,2 77,2 52,7 70,0 87, ,8 48,4 77,0 51,2 70,0 87, ,0 48,4 76,8 49,4 71,0 84,4 Belgium Low Medium High Low Medium High ,4 51,5 78,4 57,7 72,6 88, ,3 52,8 77,5 55,3 72,1 86, ,3 51,2 77,0 54,2 71,3 86, ,2 52,1 77,0 53,4 72,4 87, ,7 50,3 77,0 51,6 73,1 86, ,5 51,9 77,7 51,4 73,4 87, ,7 52,4 78,3 52,4 72,9 87, ,4 55,9 80,1 54,0 73,6 88, ,8 56,1 80,1 55,2 74,4 88, ,2 55,3 79,2 53,7 74,2 87, ,8 55,3 79,3 53,0 74,0 86,0 Source: Labour Force Survey

12 12 Gender gap in the academic world 2002 Fl. Comm. Fr. Comm. F. M. F. M. Students enrollment 55,3 44,7 52,6 47,4 Stud. Insc. Students graduates 57,3 42,7 55,2 44,8 Stud. Gr. Master Students enrollment 46,0 54,0 45,9 54,1 Adv. Insc. Master Students graduates 49,1 50,9 47,4 52,6 Adv. Gr. Assistant Academic Staff 45,3 54,7 46,3 53,7 Ass. Phd's - graduates 38,3 61,7 35,0 65,0 Phd Gr. Lecturers 21,1 79,9 21,4 78,6 Lect. Professors 12 88,0 17,7 82,3 Prof. Extr. Ord. And Ord. Extra-ordinary and ordinary professors 6,6 93,4 8,5 91,5 Prof.