« Ethnostratification refers to the phenomenon where your origin determines in which segment of the labour market you end up in. The Socioeconomic Monitor 2017 once again confirms that people of foreign origin are lagging far behind on the Belgian labour market. ».Origin remains a determining factor in explaining the inequalities in the labour market….“… The findings leave no doubt: there is no sign of equal opportunities, certainly not in terms of quality of work.EQUINET: Belgium – Socioeconomic Monitor 2017 – origin determines work opportunities.Regarding the immigration background, the report for instance shows that the unemployment rate among native-born who have at least one parent with a non-EU nationality at birth is about three times higher than those with two Belgian parents and four grandparents born with the Belgian nationality.įor those with at least one grandparent with a non-EU nationality at birth, the unemployment rate is about twice as high. The report confirms that people of foreign origin are overrepresented in sectors with irregular working hours and hard labour sectors with the worst pay and with the most precarious working conditions (“interim” industry, construction, cleaning, hospitality, etc). Regarding employees with a high level of education: 57.4% of Belgian employees have a high wage, 30% for employees from Maghreb countries or from a candidate EU Member State. Higher achievement in the field of education, however, does not translate to the pay levels.

Although the very difficult integration of the low-skilled into the labour market remains the biggest problem in Belgium, the report shows that a high level of education does not remove all inequities between employees of Belgian and foreign origin.įor people with a high level of education, but of non-EU origin, the employment rate is 10 percentage points lower than for employees of EU origin. The employment rate of people of Belgian origin was 73%, compared with 46% for people from EU candidate countries (mainly from Turkey), 44.3% for people from Maghreb countries, 42.5% for people from sub-Saharan Africa, and 42.2% for people from a European country outside the EU.įor the first time, the variable “ level of education” was included. Socioeconomic Monitoring 2017, population aged between 18 and 64 based on origins and migration background

Originlab 2017