 In 1946, the Belgian government created a guest worker programme in Italy which led to the first significant wave of immigration into Belgium.Some historians have criticised the use of the term "economic miracle" to describe the period.According to historian Martin Conway, the term is "singularly inappropriate" to describe Belgian economic recovery during the period because "growth rates, salaries, and levels of investment lagged substantially behind, and production costs significantly above, those of Belgium's competitor economies".