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1. Implementation of the employment policy within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy. In reply to the observation made in 2003, the Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in a report received in August 2004. The Committee notes that unemployment affected 14.3 per cent of the active population in 2003 (a slight drop compared with previous years when the rate remained stable at around 15 per cent over the past two decades). For young people aged between 15 and 24 years, the employment rate is over 30 per cent, particularly for young people with higher education qualifications which appears to indicate that the qualifications obtained in the training system are not suited to current job market needs. In addition, the overall rate of activity for the active population remained at 48 per cent between 1990 and 2000 while, over the same period, the percentage of women working rose to 23.8 per cent. The number of jobs created annually between 1997 and 2001 was 71,000 on average while there were 79,000 new entrants to the labour market annually. The Committee welcomes the fact that progress in the employment situation is considered a constant feature of the general employment policy and that the Government plans to carry out five studies on employment in collaboration with the World Bank during the period 2004-06. Further, the Government plans to change the periodicity of the annual employment survey to three months as from 2005. The Committee notes with interest that a first survey was carried out with enterprises in the sectors of tourism, the mechanical and electrical industries, leather, footwear and textile industries. It requests that the Government supply in its next report, up-to-date information on measures taken to ensure that the objective of full and productive employment is at the core of its macroeconomic and social policies. The Government is also asked to supply information disaggregated by group on the results achieved, particularly for young people and women, of the measures for improving the supply of occupational and technical training, the promotion of small and microbusinesses as well as on the number of jobs created by the various types of employment contract and employment promotion programmes mentioned in its report (Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention).

2. The Committee requests that the Government indicate in its next report the measures taken to coordinate the various information systems (information system of the National Employment and Self-Employment Agency, Employment Observatory, National Statistics Institute) which contribute to the production and circulation of statistics on the labour market.

3. Article 3. The Committee notes that a standing commission for employment promotion was established on 8 April 2004 in the Higher Council for Human Resources Development. In its 2003 observation, the Committee indicated its interest in being informed of the opinions issued by the Higher Council and the manner in which they were taken into account during the adoption of decisions on employment policy. In particular, with reference to Article 2 of the Convention, it requests the Government to indicate its methods for formulating and keeping under review its employment policy within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy, in consultation with the representatives of persons working in the rural and informal sectors. Please indicate how data on the labour market collected by the various information systems is accessible to the social partners and shared with them.