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1. Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Labour market trends and employment policy. The Committee takes note of the detailed information contained in the Government’s report, received in November 2006, in response to previous comments. The Government indicates that the economy continued to grow strongly resulting in an increase in the number of enterprises (12.8 per cent increase) and non-profit organizations (7.5 per cent) in 2005. As a result, the unemployment rate continued to decline; the rate of registered unemployment decreased to 9.8 per cent by 31 October 2006. Under the “National Action Plan of Employment for the years 2004–06”, the Government had undertaken a large number of active labour market measures to try and achieve the three general objectives of full employment; increased quality and productivity of labour; and strengthening social cohesion and inclusion, set out in the plan. In total, the use of active labour policy instruments assisted 239,921 persons into employment in 2005, of which 62 per cent were long-term unemployed persons. Youth unemployment rate, despite having declined since the Government’s last report in 2004, was still among the highest in the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD) member countries (26.6 per cent in 2006). In addition, according to an OECD report “Jobs for Youth: The Slovak Republic”, almost 60 per cent of registered unemployed persons aged between 15 and 24 had been looking for employment for more than a year. As indicated by the Government, a major problem in entering into employment was that jobseekers did not have the necessary qualifications to fill available job vacancies. In addition, despite all regions reporting decreasing numbers of applicants for employment and rates of registered unemployment in 2005, there was still a large disparity between the unemployment rate in Bratislava (2.86 per cent) and the other regions, in particular Banskà Bystrica (18.18 per cent), Prešov (16.08 per cent) and Košice (17.95 per cent). The Committee recalls that, as required by Convention No. 122, employment creation is linked to the successful coordination of macroeconomic policies as well as structural policies. It asks the Government to supply information in its next report on the impact of the measures undertaken to tackle regional disparities and structural unemployment specifically on the measures taken to provide lasting employment to young workers under the age of 26 years and first time employment seekers. It also requests to include information on the impact of the measures implemented to ensure that educational and life-long learning policies are coordinated with prospective employment opportunities.

2. Roma minority. The Committee notes the activities carried out under the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2004–06 which was adopted to address the exclusion of the Roma community. The Government reports that, with the assistance of various Government projects, 3,000 jobs were created in 2005 for the placement of the Roma population into employment and that 6,000 further jobs were anticipated to be created in 2006. In this regard, the Committee refers to its observation on the application of the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), and requests the Government to continue to report on the activities of its National Action Plan, and related measures, to promote productive employment of the Roma population.

3. Article 3. Participation of the social partners in the formulation and application of policies. The Committee notes the Government’s statement indicating that the social partners participated in the elaboration of the National Action Plan of Employment for the years 2004–06 and that their comments were taken into account. The Committee recalls its previous observation and, in particular, that in June 2004 the Conference Committee had urged the Government to renew its efforts to strengthen social dialogue on employment policy, as the participation of the social partners in the formulation of employment policy and in securing support for the achievement of the objective of full employment was an essential requirement of this priority Convention. Article 3 of the Convention provides that the measures to be taken in relation to employment policy should take fully into account the experience and views of the representatives of employers’ and workers’ organizations with a view to securing their full cooperation in formulating and implementing employment policies. Governments and representative organizations of employers and workers share responsibility for ensuring that representatives of the more vulnerable or marginalized groups of the active population are associated as closely as possible with the formulation and implementation of measures of which they should be the prime beneficiaries (see General Survey of 2004 on promoting employment, paragraph 493). The Committee asks again the Government to provide indications in its next report on the progress made in involving the social partners in order to ensure that the objectives of the Convention are being achieved. Please also indicate the manner in which the opinions of the representatives of persons affected by the employment policy measures, including the opinions of representatives of the Roma population, have been taken into account with regard to the employment policy measures designed for disadvantaged jobseekers.