This paper investigates the potentially non-linear relation between households' indebtedness and their consumption between 2010 and 2014 in Belgium. To do so, we use panel data from the two waves of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey. Unlike previous studies, we find a negative effect...

This paper investigates inter-industry wage differentials in Belgium, taking advantage of access to a unique matched employer-employee data set covering the period 1995-2002. Findings show the existence of large and persistent wage differentials among workers with the same observed...

This paper is one of the first to estimate how the region in which an establishment is located affects its productivity, wage cost and cost competitiveness (i.e. its productivity-wage gap). To do so, we use detailed linked employer-employee panel data for Belgium and rely on methodological...

We study how unemployment effects the over-indebtedness of households using the new European Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS). First, we assess the role of different labor market statuses (i.e. employed, unemployed, disabled, retired, etc.) and other household characteristics...

The labour market situation of low-educated people is particularly critical in most advanced economies, especially among youngsters and women. Policies aiming to increase their employability either try to foster their productivity and/or to decrease their wage cost. Yet, the evidence on the...

In many European countries, the majority of workers have their wage rates determined directly by industry-level agreements. For some workers, industry agreements are supplemented by firm-specific agreements. Yet, the relative importance of individual company and industry agreements (in other...

In the last few decades, international trade has expanded not only between industrialised countries, but also between high- and low-wage countries. This important change has raised questions on how international trade affects the labour market. In this spirit, this paper aims to investigate the...

This paper examines social upgrading related to firms' participation in Global Value Chains (GVCs) from a developed countries' perspective. Merging detailed matched employer-employee data relative to the Belgian manufacturing industry with unique information on firm-level upstreamness, we...

This paper is the first to estimate the impact of a direct measure of firm-level upstreamness on productivity, wage costs and profits (i.e. productivity-wage gaps). To do so, we merged detailed Belgian linked panel data, covering all years from 2002 to 2010, to a unique data set developed by...

This paper provides a comprehensive quantitative assessment of the relationship between people's migration background and their likelihood of being employed in Belgium. Using detailed quarterly data for the period 2008-2014, we find not only that first-generation immigrants face a substantial...