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1. The Committee notes the Government’s report for the period ending May 2000 containing information on the various programmes carried out to promote employment, particularly for young persons, women, rural workers and the unemployed, and the additional information from the Continuous Household Survey, 1999. Since 1998, the Uruguayan economy has suffered a persistent recession which resulted, at the end of 2000, in urban unemployment slightly exceeding 14 per cent and the length of unemployment (30 weeks) exceeding the period covered by social security (24 weeks). Taking into account the regional context of recession, the Committee trusts that the Government will continue to adopt programmes intended to promote full and productive employment, and particularly to address the needs of the most vulnerable categories of workers (young persons entering the labour market, women, rural workers and unemployed persons not covered by unemployment insurance) and that its next report will include information on the cost of the programmes, their scope and the results achieved in terms of job creation.

2. Please include in the next report information on the manner in which an active policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment has been pursued and the links that have been established between employment policy objectives and other economic and social objectives (Article 1 of the Convention).

3. The Committee notes certain employment programmes place emphasis on training their beneficiaries (the programme of vocational training for rural workers and small producers, the CINCO programme for the integrated training and competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises, the programme of productivity training and the labour skills project). The Committee would be grateful if the Government would continue providing information on the results achieved by the above programmes and, in general, on the measures adopted to coordinate education and training policies with prospective employment opportunities. In this respect, the Committee refers once again to the instruments on human resources development and employment creation for small and medium-sized enterprises adopted by the Conference (Convention No. 142 and Recommendations Nos. 150 and 189).

4. The Government refers in its report to the programme of training for persons with disabilities, under which 541 trainees were registered in 1999. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide information on the measures intended to meet the needs of persons with disabilities, eventually taking into account the instruments on vocational rehabilitation and employment adopted by the Conference in 1983 (Convention No. 159 and Recommendation No. 168).

5. The Government states in its report that the National Directorate of Employment (DINAE) is participating in Subgroup 10 on Labour in MERCOSUR and the SISMEL (Labour Market Information System) project of the OAS, the principal objective of which is the development of a system of harmonized indicators of labour market trends in countries in the region. The Committee requests that the Government include further information in its next report on the manner in which it has been possible to make use of the labour market information which has been compiled and analysed in the context of MERCOSUR and SISMEL, and the manner in which such information has served as a basis for the adoption of employment policy measures (Article 2 of the Convention).

6. Parts V and VI of the report form. The Committee appreciates the information contained in the Government’s report on the participation of CINTERFOR, and other international and regional organizations, in the implementation of programmes related to employment policy. Please provide information in the next report on the results achieved in terms of employment and vocational training by the activities carried out in cooperation with the Office, as well as copies or extracts of reports and studies undertaken on the employment effects of economic and social policy measures.