Polarisation of Employment Over Households Revisited: The Belgian Case

Abstract

Over the last 30 years the share of individuals in the Belgian working-age population without employment ('individual joblessness') has fallen continuously, while the share of households with no working-age member in employment ('household joblessness') remained fairly stable. In this paper we examine why individual joblessness and household joblessness diverge.The growing gap between both measures of joblessness reflects changes in household composition and changes in the distribution of individual employment over households. We describe the latter phenomenon by constructing a measure of 'polarisation of employment over households', which is based on the difference between observed and 'expected' household joblessness. On the basis of changes in household formation and changes in individual joblessness one would have expected household joblessness in Belgium to decrease. However, increasing polarisation, i.e. an increasingly unequal distribution of jobs over households, has counteracted this 'expected' evolution.Singles constitute households that are most vulnerable to the polarisation we describe, but a shift towards such more vulnerable households offers only a small share of the explanation of the evolution over time. We observe rising levels of polarisation, both in single adult households and couples. Within these household groups, changes in polarisation are similar, but increasing polarisation among couples is the most important factor in the overall increase in polarisation.

The Role of Cash Benefit and In-Kind Benefit Spending for Child Poverty in Times of Austerity: An Analysis of 22 European Countries 2006–2015

“…In times of recession, the employment level generally drops, which means that children face higher poverty risks. On the other hand, growth and rising employment levels do not necessarily mean that new jobs, or higher work intensity, lead to lower poverty, since jobs are not always shared equally and have become increasingly concentrated to households with highly educated and employable adults (Corluy and Vandenbroucke 2015). This means that employment growth can in fact produce a static or increasing number of working-age households with no member in employment (De Graaf-Zijl and Nolan 2011).…”

Children in jobless households across Europe: evidence on the association with medium- and long-term outcomes

“…Previously, in the era of the male breadwinner, the male employment rate gave a good indication of the proportion of households without an employed member. However, since the 1980s there have been growing differences between individual and household-level joblessness both within and across countries (Gregg and Wadsworth, 1996, 1998, 2008Corluy and Vandenbroucke, 2015;O'Rorke, 2016;Gregg et al, 2010;Corluy and Vandenbroucke, 2013;OECD, 1998). This diversion can be summarised by an increasing proportion of households without an earner during the 1980s and 1990s, despite individual level employment rates remaining stable over this period.…”

“…Yet the evidence for such adverse outcomes has been limited to date 2 . Primarily, work on children in jobless households has considered contemporaneous outcomes such as poverty (Corluy and Vandenbroucke, 2015;Gradin et al, 2014;Nickell, 2004) and, to a lesser extent, early child outcomes such as wellbeing (Pedersen et al, 2005) and measures of cognition and behavioural issues (Schoon et al, 2012). There has also been a limited number of studies considering outcomes later in 1 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-datasets/-/tps00181 accessed 29/10/16, 13.05.…”

Does Migration Motive Matter for Migrants' Employment Outcomes? The Case of Belgium

“…It is worth pointing out that while unemployment in Belgium is just below EU average, there is significant long-term unemployment, especially among the less skilled (OECD 2016). Belgium has just about the highest rate of household joblessness in the EU (Corluy and Vandenbroucke 2015). More generally, the employment deficit among the less skilled (relative to the better skilled) is larger than in most other countries.…”