L'influence de la réforme du contrat d'occupation d'étudiants du 1er janvier 2012 sur les acteurs du monde du travail

Background: The reform of the law on the student employment contract became effective January 1st 2012. This reform widely affects the way student employment takes place in Belgium. In this study, I evaluate the influence of this change on the behavior of the labor market actors at different points: (1) their knowledge of the law, (2) their interest for student employment, (3) the periods during which students work, (4) the competition between students and job seekers and (5) moonlighting.

Methods: I carried out a qualitative study on 42 labor market actors belonging to the following categories: students, employers, representatives of temporary work agencies and union representatives. I interviewed these persons with a questionnaire based on the five points mentioned above. I analyzed the gathered data using techniques suited for qualitative data.

Results: It first appears that the law is well known by the labor market actors. Second, the reform caused an increased interest for students employment through a cost decrease and an increase in flexibility, both on the employers’ and the students’ sides. Third, there seems to exist a link between school underperformance and a student’s amount of working days. Fourth, I observe that there exists an actual competition between students and job seekers, in particular because student employment bears a strategic aspect. Finally, I observe that 7 out of 10 students already moonlighted. The more the students like to work and the older they are, the more likely they moonlight.

Conclusion: This work allowed me to answer some questions that remained open and to provide a first qualitative evaluation of the new system. The first problem of this system is that it could elicit school underperformance by allowing students to work during terms. Next, this system does not discourage some employers to resort to moonlighting because they still need more flexibility from the students. These two thoughts will have to be part of the debate when the authorities will assess the system.