Summaries
Labour shortage in horticulture. Problems of labour supply in the Aalsmeer region
E.H. Bax, G.E. de Bruin
Employers in horticulture in the Aalsmeer region are confronted with large shortages in labour supply. This article analyses the determi nants of these shortages: a low quality of wor king life, a negative image of the sector, deple tion of the supply on the regional labour market and competition of other branches of industry in the area. The authors conclude that the pro blem of labour shortage in horticulture can only be solved if serious attempts are made to im prove the quality of working life and if new methods of labour exchange are designed which are more fitted to the needs of both employers and potential employees in horticulture.
The market share of the Public Employment Office in Flanders.
J. Denys
It is difficult to say what proportion of external vacancies are filled by the Public Employment Office. There is wide discrepancy between the figures provided by the Public Employment Of fice itself and the results of external academic research (30% and 10-15% respectively). There are signs that this difference is at least partly due to the Public Employment Office’s figures having been overestimated. This difference has also been noticed abroad, so that international comparisons do generally take this fact into account. Calculating the market share is hard enough in itself but interpreting this figure is much more difficult. It involves much more than judging the operating of the service in question on the basis of a given market share. In terms
of interpretation, some progress can be made if we divide the market share among the various currents affecting the labour market. If we per form a simple exercise based on Dutch figures, it becomes clear that a market share of 30% is fairly unlikely.
Regional Labour Market Information in the Netherlands
Dr. L. van der Laan
The article describes which statistical sources are available to analyse the labour market of a region. At first some international data sources are discussed in short. Following this, the struc ture of regional labour market sources in the Netherlands are analyzed. Moreover recent de velopments in regional information systems are traced. Important trends are an increasing in tegration of sources and larger accessibility. The possible founding of an agency for scientific data sources is discussed.
Ethnic minorities and their possibilities in the Dutch labour market
Th. van Eijk, P. Misdorp en J. Reimerink The position of people belonging to ethnic minorities on the national labour market is pro blematic. High unemployment rates, a low par ticipation grade and limited chances to (re) enter the labour market form a considerable barrier to fully integrate into the Dutch society. This problem is rapidly growing, due to demographic processes and declining demand, especially in the segment of jobs with limited required qua lifications. Therefore (re)entering programmes are set up to improve the chances for these
Summaries
target groups to re(enter) the labour market. In this article the authors present a tool of mana gement to direct these programs to economic sectors where job openings for ethnic minorities are to be expected, given their potentials and educational backgrounds. The basis for this article was a regional model of both supply and demand, given the existence of relatively large groups of unemployed ethnic inhabitants and given the regional structure of economic acti vities, aiming for a better balanced distribution of (regional) unemployment among both autoch- tones and allochtones.
Labour participation and unemployment in a regional perspective
J. Oosterhaven and H. Post
The narrow ‘official’ Dutch unemployment defi nition neglects important categories of unemplo yed and non-active people and shows only limi ted differences in regional unemployment. The authors claim that a regional approach enables them to estimate empirically, within the present labour and social security regulations, a broader concept of potential labour supply by using the maximal regional participation rate per cohort. Thus hidden unemployment is quantified too. The non-active part of potential labour supply is estimated at just over one million persons and appears to be about three time as large as ‘official’ unemployment. Moreover, regional
labour market differences now appear to becon- siderable. From this, the authors conclude with a call for a better integration of labour market policy and regional economic policy.
Is a husband/wife partnership always a good thing?
Women in partnership in agriculture
Greet Overbeek
In 1990 20% of the farmers’ women who recei ved a taxable income worked in a husband/wife partnership. This article compares the partner ship between women and their male partners in husband/wife partnerships and in sole trader businesses. Both women as their male partners work at least twenty hours a week on the hol ding. Information about the way in which they work together has been collected by means of an oral survey among the women and a written survey among the men (69 partnerships, 39 sole traders).
Women in a husband/wife partnership were more often married under community property (without a prenuptial agreement) than women working in a sole trader’s business. The main reason given for setting up a husband/wife part nership was the fiscal advantages this provides. The women’s role in the division of tasks has changed little since the husband/wife partner ship was set up and differs little from that of women working in a sole trader’s business.
