CMNT_TITLE

Employment Service Convention, 1948 (No. 88) - Spain (RATIFICATION: 1960)

Other comments on C088

Observation

Direct Request

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The Committee notes the observations of the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commission (CCOO), included with the Government’s report. The Committee also notes the observations of the General Union of Workers (UGT) and of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organizations (CEOE), received on 1 September 2015. The Committee also notes the Government’s reply to the previous observations, received on 11 November 2015.

Articles 4 and 5 of the Convention. Contribution of the employment service to employment promotion. Collaboration with the social partners. The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that in the General Council of the National Employment System and the State Commission on Training for Employment the social partners were given prior information of the approval of the principal legislative innovations in relation to employment policy. According to the Government, on 31 May 2015, there was an increase of 3.8 percentage points in the system of preparatory meetings for users of the public employment service and the number of collaborators rose from 9,228 in 2012 to 9,482 in 2013 and 9,331 in 2014, with which the situation of the offices was considered to be stabilized. The essential elements of the Employment Activation Strategy 2014–16 are: the framework agreement for public–private collaboration in employment placement; the single gateway for employment and self-employment, which was introduced in July 2014; and the common service plan for the whole of the national employment system, approved in January 2015. The Committee notes that the CCOO deplores the fact that the staff of public employment services have been reduced, despite the unemployment situation in the country, and proposes that a plan should be developed for the restructuring and strengthening of public employment services. The CCOO also regrets that there was no social dialogue, but a policy of faits accomplis, which weakens public services and promotes private employment agencies. The UGT also considers that the increased expenditure is not oriented towards employment plans and improving employability through public services, but to subsidizing the private sector. The UGT warns that in 2013 and 2014 the Standing Committee of the General Council of the National Employment System never met, and that this situation has continued in 2015. The CEOE and the IOE indicate that the scarcity of public employment services is one of the most serious problems in the Spanish economy in relation to employment placement. The recruitment of workers is carried out by enterprises themselves (in 78 per cent of cases) and information gathered from the immediate circle of jobseekers (85 per cent), which are the most common methods used by the unemployed to find employment. In 2014, over 2.5 million workers were sent for vacancies administered by the public services, resulting in the placement of 199,730 people (7.6 per cent, lower than the percentage of 8.6 achieved in 2013). In the view of the CEOE and the IOE, the low level of placement by public employment services is very ineffective in achieving an appropriate allocation of human resources and in facilitating geographical mobility. The Government reiterates that social dialogue has been a constant approach during an intense period of reform in which it has always sought to seek agreement with the social partners. The Committee notes the above information and refers to the conclusions of the Committee on the Application of Standards (International Labour Conference, 104th Session, June 2015) concerning the Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122), which call on the Government to focus on guaranteeing the largest consensus on programmes linked to vocational training and to continue the dialogue with the social partners on vocational training for youth and the unemployed on the basis of strong public services. The Committee requests the Government to adopt further measures to ensure that the general employment service policy is determined through prior consultation with the representatives of the social partners. Please also provide updated information as a basis for assessing the effectiveness of the State Public Employment Service, as well as the effectiveness of the employment services provided by the Autonomous Communities and, in particular, the manner in which public employment services have contributed to helping youth and the unemployed find employment.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2017.]