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The paper traces in reference to Belgium the debates between social interlocutors around the theme of structural competitiveness as well as the way in which they have integrated this theme into social compromises since the end of the Second World War. The paper is divided into three parts. The first describes the early social compromise built around the Joint Declaration on Productivity. The second focuses on the period from 1970 to 1996, during which the social compromise was dislocated, while the third and final part starts in 1996 with the law relating to the promotion of employment and the preventive safeguard of competitiveness. It recalls attempts at rebuilding a social compromise within a new socioeconomic framework. This was marked by the challenges posed by globalization, population aging, social cohesion, and environmental protection.