Research project TA/00/44 (Research action TA)
Aims
In 2005, due to the low employment rate among older - particularly female - workers, the Belgian government set up the "Intergenerational solidarity pact". This pact comprises a large number of measures intended to keep older workers longer in employment and also to get them back to work. This study aims at evaluating the overall effectiveness of employment policies targeting older workers in Belgium and to identify policies that are most likely to improve employment prospects for older people, particularly women.
• Methodology
The project begins by describing the existing institutional systems, to situate employment policies targeting older people in their national and international context. Special attention is paid to differences between types of active labour market policies in terms of the ways in which they are designed and implemented. Parts B and C, which respectively carry out a macroeconometric analysis and a microeconometric assessment of the policies targeting older people, form the central part of the project. The analyses in parts B and C are carried out separately for men and women in order to verify whether the effects of the policies being assessed are different depending on the gender.
Part B focuses on a macroeconometric analysis of the possible link between the change in the employment rate among older people in Belgium and the rapid development of policies targeting older people during the first decade of the 21st century.
Part C uses microeconometric methods to evaluate a selection of policies targeting older people, using a number of different indicators of their results: transition rates out of work and into work, the rate of withdrawal from the labour market and the quality of employment, measured by its duration and the level of remuneration.
Finally, part D integrates these approaches and seeks to generate sound policy guidelines.
• Expected results and outcomes
The research project aims to make a contribution to the public debate on active ageing and active labour market policies aimed at older workers, focusing particularly on women, while also contributing to the scientific debate on the evaluation of the policies.
The expected outcomes are as follows:
1. Presenting the work that has been done at international seminars and conferences,
2. Publication of the analyses and results in journals: Publication in peer-reviewed international economics journals and publication in the (French-language) journal "Regards économiques" and the (Dutch-language) journal "Over.werk", two scientific journals with popular appeal which are intended to disseminate the research results to a wide audience.
3. Major conference: a final conference will be held at which the conclusions and recommendations from the project can be disseminated. Those invited will include the ministers responsible for this area, members of trade unions, employers’ organisations, public authorities and associations involved in getting job seekers into work.
4. Press release and press conference: to announce the final conference and the results of the project, in both French and Dutch to reach the widest possible audience.
5. Cluster report: participation in jointly editing a document setting out the main conclusions and recommendations from the three research projects that have been funded within the same axis and on the same theme. This project will be implemented on the basis of a separate funding arrangement which is not included in this agreement.
20-02-2017: Matinée d’étude: L’emploi des seniors en Belgique: quelles politiques pour quels effets?
[Programme]
20-02-2017: Onderzoeksvoormiddag: Werk voor ouderen in België: werkt het beleid?
[Programma]
Werk voor ouderen in België : werkt het beleid ? eindrapport= L'emploi des seniors en Belgique : quelles politiques pour quels effets ? rapport final (WOLDEMP)
Cockx, Bart - Dejemeppe, Muriel - Van Der Linden, Bruno Brussel : Federaal Wetenschapsbeleid, 2017 (SP2664)
[To download]
Werk voor ouderen in België : werkt het beleid ? (WOLDEMP) : synthese
Cockx, Bart - Dejemeppe, Muriel - Van Der Linden, Bruno Brussel : Federaal Wetenschapsbeleid, 2017 (SP2665)
[To download]
L'emploi des seniors en Belgique : quelles politiques pour quels effets ? (WOLDEMP) : synthèse
Cockx, Bart - Dejemeppe, Muriel - Van Der Linden, Bruno Bruxelles : Politique scientifique fédérale, 2017 (SP2666)
[To download]
Age, women and employment, an evaluation (WOLDEMP) : summary
Cockx, Bart - Dejemeppe, Muriel - Van Der Linden, Bruno Brussels : Belgian science policy, 2017 (SP2667)
[To download]
