Regional Labor Market Disparities in Belgium

Marcello Estevão

No 2002/134, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: Regional labor market discrepancies have been widening in Belgium in the last two decades and are more evident within particular demographic groups. These developments can largely be accounted for by worse matching of people to jobs in the high-unemployment provinces. Using a structural VAR, it is also shown that labor market dynamics in Belgium produce a strong attenuating effect on employment growth, in contrast to the United States where initial labor demand shocks are expanded in the long run. After the short-run adjustment is over, there is less labor migration in Belgium than in the United States or Europe, corroborating the perception that Belgians move "too little."

Keywords: WP; wage; employment growth; geography; labor; dynamics; divergences; wage reduction; mismatch problem; industry employment; job-skill mismatch; reductions in depressed areas; wage dispersion; employment response; wage differentiation; Employment; Labor force participation; Unemployment rate; Labor markets; Labor force; Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29
Date: 2002-08-01
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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