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1. The Committee takes note of the Government's report for the period ending June 1990 and the observations of the Congress of Austrian Chambers of Labour. According to the information supplied by the Government and that contained in the reports and studies of the OECD, the high growth levels of economic activity and employment have not been sufficient to obtain a sustainable reduction in the unemployment rate owing to the fact that the active population has grown more rapidly than employment. Although total employment increased by 1 per cent in 1989 and 2.1 per cent in 1990, the unemployment rate, which stood at 5.3 per cent in 1988, dropped only slightly in 1989 (5 per cent) and rose again to 5.4 per cent in 1990. The Committee, while noting that the employment situation is on the whole more positive than in most other OECD countries, none the less notes certain tendencies which could be worrying in the long term such as the increase in the length of unemployment of older workers or workers with lower skills and the rapid increase in unemployment among foreign workers.

2. The Committee notes the information concerning active employment policy measures. It notes in particular that special activities for the employment of women are being pursued and new measures for older workers have been introduced to cope with their deteriorating situation on the labour market. The Committee also notes the information on the training programmes aimed at preventing unemployment or encouraging the reintegration of the unemployed supplied by the Government in its report on the application of Convention No. 142. It would be grateful if the Government would continue to supply information on the various programmes being implemented and the evaluation of their effect on the employment of the groups of the population concerned.

3. In its comments on the application of the Convention, the Congress of Austrian Chambers of Labour expresses the view that the existence merely of legal conditions for the application of the objectives of the Convention is not sufficient, in practice, to guarantee work for all jobseekers. Furthermore, if an unemployed person can be obliged to accept a less skilled or lower paid job, this would restrict the free choice of employment according to the Congress. In its reply to this point, the Government states that the Unemployment Insurance Act of 1977 has not affected free choice of employment. Under this Act, refusal on the part of an unemployed person to accept reasonable alternative employment can entail a temporary suspension of entitlement to unemployment benefit or special emergency aid; however, the employment proposed must be adequately remunerated and a less highly skilled job can be considered reasonable only if the unemployed persons has exhausted his entitlement to unemployment benefit and has no prospect of finding employment in his own trade or occupation in the foreseeable future. The Committee takes note of this information and recalls that under Article 1, paragraph 2(a) and (c), of the Convention, employment policy must aim at ensuring that "there is work for all who are available for and seeking work" and that "there is freedom of choice of employment and the fullest possible opportunity for each worker to qualify for and to use his skills and endowments in a job for which he is well suited". It asks the Government to state how account is taken of these objectives in the implementation of the legal provisions in force and particularly the Labour Market Promotion Act and the Unemployment Insurance Act.