Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/91806 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Policy Paper No. 66
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
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.
Subjects: 
youth unemployment
employment protection
education
active and passive labor market policies
Belgium
JEL: 
J24
J38
J68
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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