CMNT_TITLE

1. Further to its 1987 observation, the Committee notes with interest the Government's report for the period ending June 1988 and the helpful documentation attached. The increase in the economic activity, resulting in a real GDP growth in 1987-88 higher than the planned average annual target of 4 per cent, was also reflected in an overall improvement in the employment situation, with the unemployment rate dropping to 3.4 per cent in 1987, the Government expecting a further decline to a rate of 3 per cent in 1988. The Government states that the employment policy under implementation aims at maintaining conditions of full employment, increasing labour force efficiency and eliminating as far as possible imbalances in labour market.

2. The Committee would be grateful if in its future reports the Government would continue to supply information on the employment policy and the extent to which employment objectives of the development plans have been or are being attained. Please describe as far as possible the employment impact of the realisation of overall medium-term objectives as envisaged by the Fifth Emergency Action Plan 1987, and especially the effects of measures taken in the fields of trade policy (considering the necessary structural changes to the new conditions expected to be created by the customs union with the EEC); investment policy; fiscal and monetary policies; prices, incomes and wages policies. Please supply supplementary information on the measures taken to meet the needs of particular categories of population, and especially the measures aimed at alleviating the unemployment problem among tertiary education graduates which is, according to the Government's report, the most serious imbalance in the labour market (see report form under Article 1 of the Convention).

3. The Committee notes the information supplied under Article 2 of the Convention. Please supply information, when available, on the results of the government ad hoc surveys mentioned in the report ("Labour Force and Migration Survey", "Survey on the Return of College/University Graduates").

4. Finally, the Committee notes that it was decided to follow a new industrial strategy based on the principle of flexible specialisation and a new approach towards productivity improvement was adopted, with the assistance of the ILO. It is pointed out that the success of the new approaches depends heavily on tripartite co-operation in the area of productivity improvement, in particular in the manufacturing export-oriented sector. The Committee welcomes any further information that can be given on the implementation of the new approaches, their impact on the promotion of the employment goals and the manner in which employers' and workers' representatives were consulted and co-operated (Article 3 of the Convention).