Critical success factors in the activation of people of foreign origin

Approximately one in five people of the potential labour force in Flanders has a foreign origin (Djait, 2015). The labour market integration of this specific group does not always go smoothly, with high unemployment rates as a result. While individual barriers in terms of labour market integration have been researched extensively, there is relatively little research on successful policy strategies in terms of employment activation of people of foreign origin. Therefore, we explored what ALMP’s are most effective for people of foreign origin, and examined whether there are differences in effectiveness depending on the profile of the immigrants. In other words, the underlying question of this research is ‘what works for whom, and why?’ Data stem from the public employment service (PES) in Flanders (Belgium), complemented with information from the Crossroads Bank for Social Security. We analysed data of job seekers entering the PES between 2008 and 2012, and tracked the jobseekers until 2016. Apart from Belgian jobseekers, we distinguished four subgroups of jobseekers of foreign origin, more particularly 1) EU-citizens, 2) second generation immigrants (non-EU), 3) first generation ‘former arrivals’ (non-EU), and 4) first generation ‘newcomers’ (non-EU), and studied of different interventions, with a main focus on vocational training, competence-enhancing traineeships, and individual vocational training (so-called ‘IBO’).