CMNT_TITLE

The Committee notes the Government's report and the information supplied in response to its previous comments.

1. With regard to the notion of work of equal value, the Committee notes the information on the way in which methods of fixing wages are determined for home workers and other specific categories of workers, and in collective agreements. It hopes that the Government will continue its action to promote the application of the principle of equal remuneration by an objective appraisal of jobs on the basis of the work to be performed, in accordance with Article 3 of the Convention.

2. The Committee noted in its previous direct request that the statistics sent by the Government on the number of persons employed in 1990 by branch of economic activity and sex showed a concentration of women workers in the communications and services sectors. Referring to paragraph 22 of its 1986 General Survey on Equal Remuneration, the Committee pointed out (regarding the comparison between work performed by women and work performed by men with a view to ensuring equal remuneration for work or equal value) that, "more generally, and in spite of the difficulties associated with a broad comparison of jobs, the fact that women workers are more heavily concentrated in certain jobs and in certain sectors of activity has to be taken into account so as to avoid or redress a biased evaluation of qualities traditionally considered as 'peculiar to women'".

3. The Committee recalls that the Government stated in the Annex to its previous report that a data collection system was to be established, which would provide updated statistics on wages, age, sex, etc. in the public service. So that it may ascertain how the principle of equal remuneration is applied in practice, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide statistics, as soon as possible, concerning:

(i) the salary scales applicable in the public sector, with an indication of the percentage of men and women employed at different levels;

(ii) the texts of collective agreements fixing wages in various sectors of activity, with an indication, if possible, of the percentage of women covered by these agreements and the distribution of men and women employed at different levels;

(iii) statistical data concerning the minimum or basic wage rates and the average actual earnings of men and women broken down, if possible, by occupation, branch of activity, seniority and level of qualifications, as well as information on the corresponding percentage of women.