The objective of this detailed study on cross-border mobility between France and Belgium and more particularly between the Department of Ardennes and Wallonia was, first of all, to provide the French and Walloon public employment services with knowledge of workers' movements between the border areas of the Department of Ardennes and the provinces of Hainaut, Namur and Luxembourg.
This information was intended to allow actions plans to be drawn up that would be better adapted to the characteristics and specificities of the Ardennes and Walloon employment areas in order to facilitate the geographical and professional mobility of cross-border workers, in terms of both information and advice and assistance, service provision and recruitment.
Accordingly, this work is intended, in an initial stage, to enable local stakeholders and professionals in the employment sector to have socio-economic analysis of the Ardennes/Hainaut-Namur-Luxembourg cross-border territory, presenting the demographic specificities of the population (age, gender, educational level, level of qualification, socio-professional category, etc.) and the nature of the activity engaged in (salaried employee, employer, type of employment contract, length of contract, branch).
Secondly, the intention is to explore the issues relating to the labour market, in both its border and cross-border dimensions (characteristics, actors, demand, etc.) and in particular the question of the flows of cross-border workers, about which little was known until now on this portion of the Franco-Belgian border. The flows researched correspond to the movements of cross-border workers within the Department of Ardennes and the three Belgian province of Hainaut, Namur and Luxembourg. The cross-border flows into the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg are also presented in a complementary analysis.
The work then addresses the comparative study of the public employment services on either side of the border, looking at the points they have in common and their differences and taking into account the recent changes they have undergone. The question of vocational training, a corollary to the issue of job seeking, is also dealt with.
Finally, the study endeavours to review the situation with regard to the cross-border cooperation initiatives that exist on this segment of the Franco-Belgian border, focusing the analysis on employment-related projects in particular, with their successes and their limitations.
The Longwy cross-border area provides a fertile ground for discussing theories on the transformation of social issues into spatial issues, from the past domination of the steel industry and the brutality of the changes that have occurred over a thirty-year period to the sharp increase in cross-border working. Various representations of the notion of the cross-border rub shoulders here. The discourses of the institutions propose readings that are more and more focused on going beyond borders and moving further and further away from contradictory social relations. Yet researchers are reasserting the fact that it is social relations that define a territory, which, in return, inscribes them in its territory. But they do not agree on whether or not the class struggle has disappeared.
Due to its attractiveness, since the end of the 20th century, Luxembourg has seen strong growth. This development has occurred more or less coherently at a functional level, but is very fragmented at the social level. In fact, many highly qualified workers now live in this cross-border metropolitan area. This article analyses this phenomenon based on spatial data with the aim of understanding how this young territory is structured according to the transport networks and the borders.
Through the figures provided, this report underscores the changes in employment seen over the last two decades and how factors such as age, gender, education, type of work pattern and nationality have played a role. It examines the economic life of persons out of the labour force aged between 50 and 64, whilst analysing in detail the withdrawal from the labour force of the over-50s over the last ten years.
Continuing training is an essential component of the labour market in the Greater Region and of the Lisbon Strategy. And yet it is a reality that is hard to harmonise at European level and one which resists statistical analysis. Only the European statistical surveys, in particular the labour force surveys, get anywhere a satisfactory degree of comparability of the indicators. They indicate the insufficiencies and imperfections of the continuing training systems in the Greater Region. Thus rates of participation were stagnating in the different components of the Greater Region at the end of the period, and even falling in Luxembourg and Wallonia, remaining below the European target of 12.5%. The allocation of continuing training efforts appears to be suboptimal insofar as it is the best rained works in large companies that have the best access to continuing training (cf. "all other things being equal" analysis). As for the content of the continuous training, an excessive focus on the current workstation means there is a risk of failing to meet the European target on "flexicurity". If the continuing training systems in the Greater Region have some identical features, the differences are worthy of note.
For example there is a more pronounced openness in the Luxembourg and Walloon systems, which allows for training that is less connected to the current post and extends outside of working hours. Lorraine stood out for its higher rate of participation at the end of the period, although this comes at the price of shorter training courses. In 2020, continuing training remains a challenge for Europe and the Greater region, with a target of 15%. Even more so as the current economic difficulties risk curbing efforts in continuing training, even though they are a lever for emerging from the crisis.
