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The Committee notes the general information contained in the Government’s report received in September 2006.

1. Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Policies to promote employment. The Committee notes from the data supplemented by the technical units of the Office that the employment rate is slowly continuing to climb to 54.5 per cent in 2006, an increase of 1.6 per cent since the last report. Despite continuing to be one of the highest in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the unemployment rate slowly decreased to 14 per cent in 2006. However, gender gaps in unemployment continued to exist. While the unemployment rate also dropped significantly for the 15–24 age group (29.8 per cent in 2006), young persons continued to be the worst hit by unemployment. The Government reported that the basic employment policy objectives for 2005–06 were to increase labour demand; increase employment growth; reduce unemployment; strengthen active labour market policies; and invest in human capital development. These were to be implemented through the National Action Plan in Favour of Employment 2006 (KPDZ/2006), the KPDZ 2005 and the National Reform Programme 2005–08. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government concerning measures to be taken under the national plans to increase employment for youth, older workers and workers with disabilities. It also notes the improvements to institutional labour market services that are to be implemented by the Government through enhancing the quality of job placement services, vocational guidance services and services within the EURES network; increasing the quality of training services organizations; and supporting geographical and occupational mobility. The Committee requests the Government to provide in its next report further detailed information on the impact of these measures, as well as measures referred to in previous comments, in particular whether these measures have had any impact on reducing the rate of unemployment, in particular for young workers, women workers and older workers. It would also appreciate detailed information on the effectiveness of reforms made in the employment services to increase their efficiency.

2. Article 3. Participation of the social partners in the formulation and application of policies. The Committee notes that the scope of powers of the Supreme Employment Council has been expanded and covers pronouncing opinions on draft laws in the field of employment promotion and mitigating the effects of unemployment. In this regard, the Committee asks the Government to continue to supply information on the manner in which representatives of the persons affected are consulted concerning employment policies, including information on the consultation held at the regional level on the matters covered by the Convention.