The social balance sheet 2003

The first part of the article sets out the provisional results of the analysis of the social balance sheets for the year 2003. Since not all the social balance sheets are available for that year as yet, the study is based on a reduced population constructed according to the constant sample principle, comprising 40,630 enterprises employing around 1,372,000 workers in 2003. The main results of the analysis of that reduced population are as follows. Employment declined at an annual average rate of 0.8 p.c. in 2003, but the rate of job losses slowed down slightly at the end of the year. While the number of full-time workers declined, the number of part-timers increased once again. Net staff departures slowed down between 2002 and 2003, particularly in the case of workers with primary or secondary school level skills. On the other hand, net recruitment of highly skilled staff remained below the levels recorded the previous year. Results confirm that employers have tried to use the most socially acceptable ways of implementing job cuts, as there was only a small rise in redundancies between 2002 and 2003, in contrast to the numbers taking normal or early retirement and the numbers whose fixed-term contracts were not renewed. At the same time, there was little change in the structure of employment by type of contract, where permanent contracts predominate by a long way, as the numbers of both fixed-term and permanent contracts declined. On the other hand, there was an increase in the use of agency workers, providing evidence of the steady improvement in the situation of enterprises in the reduced population. Staff costs were up by 1.6 p.c. between 2002 and 2003. Since employment in terms of full-time equivalents (FTEs) was down by 1 p.c. on average and the working hours per FTE remained unchanged, costs per hour worked increased by 2.7 p.c. Regarding the training policy, participation rates stagnated in 2003, as did the percentage of working hours devoted to acquiring skills or keeping them up to standard. The indicator of the amount spent on training declined : it represented just 1.2 p.c. of the wage bill. This renewed fall negates the efforts made here in the late 1990s, so that altogether, between 1998 and 2003, there has been no progress towards the objective of 1.9 p.c. fixed in the 1998 interprofessional agreement. The second part of the article analyses the characteristics of the enterprises according to their geographical location ; firms operating in only one region were distinguished from those with establishments in more than one region. In the latest case, the social balance sheets were allocated into the three regions of the country according to the one in which the largest number of jobs was recorded by the National Social Security Office. The analysis presented is an initial appraisal of the regional characteristics of firms which have to submit a social balance sheet. The average working hours recorded in the six groups of enterprises, namely single-region and multi-regional enterprises operating in Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia, reflects the differences in the structure of activity, since working hours within the actual branches of activity are relatively uniform in the different regions. That is less true of staff costs, in any case for single-regional enterprises, as hourly costs are systematically lower in Wallonian enterprises, for each branch of activity, and higher in Brussels enterprises, even though the firms are of the same average size. As regards the training policy, single-regional Wallonian enterprises are still lagging behind their counterparts in the other two regions, despite the progress made in terms of participation rates. For multi-regional enterprises, the weaker results in Wallonia are probably due in part to the smaller average size of the firms, and the preponderance of industrial enterprises. The latest devote fewer resources to their training policy than the financial, real estate and business services branches, for example, which account for 55 p.c. of the staff employed by Brussels multi-regional enterprises, and than the trade, transport and communications branches which represent over half of the workforce of multi-regional enterprises in Flanders.employment, staff costs, vocational training, working hours employment contract, full-time, part-time, region

The social balance sheet 2005

Each year, the National Bank examines the provisional results of the social balance sheets of Belgian enterprises. As the social balance sheets are not yet all available for 2005, the study is based on a limited population of enterprises, compiled according to the principle of a constant sample. This population is made up of 48,976 enterprises employing around 4,441,000 workers in 2005. The main results of the analysis are as follows. As an average, employment increased by 0.5 p.c. between 2004 and 2005. Although the year-end growth rate was also 0.5 p.c. for these two years, the rate of increase in the volume of labour expressed in full-time equivalent slowed down during the year. Net staff recruitment also declined during 2005, falling to only half the previous year’s level. In fact, employment expanded in small and medium-sized enterprises while large companies recorded staff cuts. In industry, the workforce contracted once again. It remained stable in trade, transport and communications whereas it increased in the other branches, especially in other services and construction. The female workforce grew by around 8,400 units between year-end 2004 and 2005, representing 37.7 p.c. of total employment at 31 December 2005 ; the number of male employees declined by around 1,400 units. Net staff recruitment is proportionately greater for full-time workers. However, because of the changes in the working arrangements of existing staff, the rate of part-time working increased by almost 4 p.c. Part of this rise is due to the development of the time credit scheme, increasingly used to reconcile work and family life, but also to facilitate the transition between working life and retirement. Enterprises filing full-format accounts supply more details on staff movements during the year. There has been an increase in the number of workers with higher education qualifications, while the number of staff with low and medium skills has declined. However the majority of the workers taken on still fall into these last categories of staff. New part-time employees have lower qualifications than those recruited as full-time staff. The male full-time workers recruited are on average less skilled than new female full-time workers. Despite the large net intake of temporary workers, the total for the latter varies only very slightly, since some of these workers are offered a permanent contract while other temporary jobs are subject to a high rate of turnover. However, the turnover of employees on permanent contracts is also quite significant, since 12.8 p.c. of them left their employer in 2005. Finally, the number of staff leaving declined between 2004 and 2005, mainly because of a reduction in the use of early retirement schemes and redundancies. The full-format accounts also contain information on the use of agency workers and persons on secondment from an outside firm. It is therefore possible to assess the relative importance of all temporary contracts which, in these companies, altogether represent 9.2 p.c. of workers. Small organisations use more agency workers, while larger ones prefer fixed-term contracts. Manufacturing industry and the construction sector use primarily agency workers while the service branches make more use of fixed-term contracts. Persons on secondment and substitution contracts are found mainly in the service branches. Hourly labour costs increased by an average of 3.6 p.c. between 2004 and 2005 in enterprises of the limited population. The article shows that, while the level of hourly labour costs differs significantly between branches, the dispersion of these costs is also considerable : the ratio between the average costs recorded in firms with the lowest costs and the average calculated for those with the highest costs varies by a factor of 2 to 5 between branches. Finally, in regard to training, the financial effort indicator declined once again in 2005. The training budget is estimated to be 1.05 p.c. of staff costs in 2005, against 1.13 p.c. in 2004 and a peak of 1.42 p.c. in 2000. However, there was a slight increase in the rate of employees’ participation in training : 36 p.c. of workers had access to training in 2005, one percentage point more than at the beginning of the decade. These performances still fall well short of the targets set by the inter-generation solidarity pact adopted at the end of December 2005, which – in line with earlier agreements – stipulates that the first indicator should reach 1.9 p.c. in 2006 and the second 50 p.c. by 2010.employment, staff costs, training, working hours, employment contract, full-time, part-time, skills, temporary worker

The social balance sheet 2008

There was an average annual increase in employment of 1.7 p.c. in 2008, according to the statistics gleaned from a reduced population of enterprises that filed their social balance sheet by 16 September 2009 at the latest. End-of-year results (+0.8 p.c.) point to a significant slowdown in growth during the course of the year, reflecting the economic downturn which began at the end of 2007. Full-time staff numbers stabilised, but the number of part-time workers continued to grow. The expansion of this part-time working arrangement is not only attributable to the recruitment of workers on shorter hours ; shifts between full-time and part-time working arrangements have also been observed, especially in large firms that have restructured. As a result of the economic downturn, the share of temporary work has fallen. In firms filing a full-format social balance sheet, a reduction in the use of temporary agency workers has also been noted. The overall wage bill in the firms included in the reduced population grew by 5.3 p.c. in 2008. At the same time, the volume of labour expanded by 1.6 p.c., so that costs per hour worked increased by 3.7 p.c. on average. This article includes an assessment, by branch of activity, of how closely the indicative wage norm set for the period 2006-2008 has been followed. This survey was carried out on the basis of a population of firms that had filed a social balance sheet for the three consecutive years. For the first time ever, thanks to the introduction of a new version of the social balance sheet, it has been possible to have a breakdown of staff numbers by educational level. On average, women tend to have a more intensive level of training than men. Workers’ educational requirements vary considerably according to the branch of activity. Since the year 2008, training activities have been broken down between formal and informal vocational training and initial training, whereas before only formal training and a very small proportion of informal training had been taken into account. Participation rates for these three types of training come to respectively 37, 21 and 1 p.c. of the workforce. Budgets for training accounted for a total of 1.7 p.c. of staff expenses, including 1.2 p.c. for formal training alone, which is still well below the target for the private sector that had been set at 1.9 p.c. for 2006. Major differences in training policy can be observed in firms classified by size and branch of activity, whether it is a question of ranging from the volume of training activities, the size of budget, or type of training selected. An analysis of individual data shows that the probability for an enterprise to provide formal or informal training depends above all on its size, with the branch of activity ranking second. Whether it is linked to a non-resident firm and the composition of the workforce (notably the relative share of staff with higher education qualifications) also play a significant role. Within firms that do offer training, the dispersion of training costs depends very much on firm-specific factors, which cannot be taken into consideration by a general model.employment, staff costs, training, working hours, employment contract, full-time, part-time, skills, temporary worker

The social balance sheet 2006

According to the 2006 social balance sheets of Belgian enterprises, employment on average increased by 1.3 p.c. between 2005 and 2006. It expanded mainly in small and medium-sized enterprises while remaining unchanged in large companies. Employment grew in all branches of activity except in industry. A marked rise was recorded in the number of part-time workers, too. Consequently, the part-time employment rate increased again, the rise being especially strong for the male workforce. Staff movements were larger than in 2005, but net recruitment fell to only half of the previous year’s level. A strong increase in the staff turnover rate was observed in some industrial branches. Hourly labour costs rose by an average of 3.1 p.c. between 2005 and 2006, to 33.1 euro. Their level differs significantly between enterprises according to their branch of activity and their size. Labour costs are higher in enterprises operating in several regions than in single-region firms. In the latter, hourly labour costs are weaker in Wallonia than in the two other regions. Performance in the field of training still fell well short of the targets of 1.9 p.c. in 2006 for the financial effort indicator and 50 p.c. by 2010 for the employee participation rate. The first indicator, that is, the training budget as a percentage of staff costs, was estimated at 1.2 p.c. in 2006. There was a further but small increase in the rate of employee participation in training : only 36.4 p.c. of workers had access to training in 2006. In Wallonia, the percentage of training firms is lower and the indicators calculated solely for training firms remain systematically weaker than in Brussels and Flanders. Finally, the Belgian results of the Continuing Vocational Training Survey (CVTS) for 2005 were compared with those of the social balance sheets. The proportion of training firms is far higher in CVTS, probably because of the intensive follow-up provided to firms involved in the survey. On the other hand, the worker participation rate and the time spent on training as a percentage of working hours are similar in both statistics. As for the financial effort indicator, the results are very different, respectively 1.6 p.c. in CVTS and 1.3 p.c. in the social balance sheets, while they were quite similar in 1999 when the previous survey was carried out.employment, staff costs, training, working hours, employment contract, full-time, part-time, skills, temporary worker

The social balance sheet 2007

According to the results of the social balance sheets available in September 2008, employment rose by 2.3 p.c. in 2007. The increase concerned both full-time as well as part-time workers. The rise in part-time working is only partially explained by the hiring of part-time workers : this year again, medium-sized and large enterprises also saw numerous changes in working arrangements. Although women still account for the bulk of part-time workers, the increase in the part-time rate was greater for men than for women. The analysis shows that part-time working is spread unevenly in the various branches of activity. As in previous years, the article studies staff movements and the characteristics of workers joining and leaving companies filing full-format accounts. It also examines reasons for leaving and the external turnover of workers by comparing the results from the various groups of enterprises categorised according to their size or their branch of activity. The analysis also highlights the further advance in 2007 of temporary employment contracts – whose proportion is tending to become more uniform in the various categories of company size – and the increased use of agency work in companies filing full-format accounts. Recourse to these contracts as instruments for workforce adjustments varies considerably from one branch of activity to the other. The total wage bill rose by 5.1 p.c. between 2006 and 2007 in the reduced population of companies. Over the same period there was a 2.3 p.c. growth in the number of hours worked, so that hourly labour costs grew by 2.8 p.c. on average. The rise was more pronounced for full-time than for part-time workers. Major differences in levels are still discernible in terms of hourly costs, depending on the size and branch of activity of the companies. In terms of training, the results for 2006 still fall well short of the set targets : training costs accounted for 1.17 p.c. of the total wage bill whereas the target specified in the Generation Pact for this same year was 1.9 p.c. At the same time, the participation rate in training was only 35.2 p.c. whereas a target has been set of 50 p.c. by 2010. Growth was nevertheless recorded between 2006 and 2007 within a favourable economic context : the cost indicator for training grew by 4 p.c. and the participation rate by 0.2 p.c. If these increases were applied to the level observed in 2006, these same indicators should amount to 1.22 and 35.3 p.c. respectively for 2007.employment, staff costs, training, working hours, employment contract, full-time, part-time, skills, temporary worker

Modelling phytoplankton successions and nutrient transfers along the Scheldt estuary (Belgium, The Netherlands)

The freshwater (RIVE) and the marine (MIRO) biogeochemical models were coupled to a 1D hydro-sedimentary model to describe contemporary phytoplankton successions and nutrient transfers in the macrotidal Scheldt estuary (BE/NL) affected by anthropogenic nutrient loads. The 1D-RIVE-MIRO model simulations are performed between Ghent and Vlissingen and the longitudinal estuarine profiles are validated with physico-chemical and phytoplankton observations available for the year 2006. Results show the occurrence of two distinct phytoplankton blooms in the upper and lower estuary, suggesting that neither the freshwater nor the marine phytoplankton is crossing the maximum turbidity zone (MTZ) at the saline transition. Sensitivity tests performed to understand how changing conditions (salinity, turbidity and nutrients) along the estuary are controlling this bimodal spatial phytoplankton distribution point salinity and light availability as key drivers while the grazing pressure and nutrient limitations are negligible. In the absence of species-specific salinity control or in low light limitation, freshwater phytoplankton is able to cross the MTZ and grow in the lower estuary where they compete with marine phytoplankton for nutrients. Additional tests with varying salinity-resistant (euryhaline) species in the freshwater assemblage conclude that the presence (or absence) of euryhalines determines the magnitude and the extension of freshwater and marine phytoplankton blooms in the estuary. Annual nutrient budgets estimated from 1D-RIVE-MIRO simulations show that biological activities have a negligible impact on nutrient export but modify the speciation of nutrients exported to the coastal zone towards inorganic forms

A comparison of 4 different machine learning algorithms to predict lactoferrin content in bovine milk from mid-infrared spectra

peer-reviewedLactoferrin (LF) is a glycoprotein naturally present in milk. Its content varies throughout lactation, but also with mastitis; therefore it is a potential additional indicator of udder health beyond somatic cell count. Condequently, there is an interest in quantifying this biomolecule routinely. First prediction equations proposed in the literature to predict the content in milk using milk mid-infrared spectrometry were built using partial least square regression (PLSR) due to the limited size of the data set. Thanks to a large data set, the current study aimed to test 4 different machine learning algorithms using a large data set comprising 6,619 records collected across different herds, breeds, and countries. The first algorithm was a PLSR, as used in past investigations. The second and third algorithms used partial least square (PLS) factors combined with a linear and polynomial support vector regression (PLS + SVR). The fourth algorithm also used PLS factors, but included in an artificial neural network with 1 hidden layer (PLS + ANN). The training and validation sets comprised 5,541 and 836 records, respectively. Even if the calibration prediction performances were the best for PLS + polynomial SVR, their validation prediction performances were the worst. The 3 other algorithms had similar validation performances. Indeed, the validation root mean squared error (RMSE) ranged between 162.17 and 166.75 mg/L of milk. However, the lower standard deviation of cross-validation RMSE and the better normality of the residual distribution observed for PLS + ANN suggest that this modeling was more suitable to predict the LF content in milk from milk mid-infrared spectra (R2v = 0.60 and validation RMSE = 162.17 mg/L of milk). This PLS +ANN model was then applied to almost 6 million spectral records. The predicted LF showed the expected relationships with milk yield, somatic cell score, somatic cell count, and stage of lactation. The model tended to underestimate high LF values (higher than 600 mg/L of milk). However, if the prediction threshold was set to 500 mg/L, 82% of samples from the validation having a content of LF higher than 600 mg/L were detected. Future research should aim to increase the number of those extremely high LF records in the calibration set