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Employment Service Convention, 1948 (No. 88) - Guinea-Bissau (RATIFICATION: 1977)

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Articles 1, 3, 4 and 5 of the Convention. Contribution of the employment service to the promotion of employment. Consultation with the social partners. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its 2021 and 2023 reports. In its 2023 report, the Government indicates that the Convention is not fully applied, particularly in relation to employment services for young persons. The Government adds that it intends to reduce youth unemployment through the creation of a committee within the Ministry of Labour that will be charged with the development of an employment policy. In addition, the Government reports that it has taken measures to ensure the functioning of the public employment service, including establishing the National Service for Employment and Vocational Training (ANGEFP). The ANGEFP is not yet operational, however, pending approval of the legislation necessary to enable it to function. The Department of the Employment Service forms part of the ANGEFP, but its activities are limited in a context where the public employment centres have not been established, due to the lack of human and financial resources. A projected Pilot Centre for Employment has also not yet been created. There are also no advisory committees or other mechanisms to ensure the cooperation of representatives of employers and workers in the organization and operation of the employment service and the development of employment service policy. The Government refers, however, to the National Observatory on Employment and Vocational Training (ONEFP), as the agency responsible for the collection and analysis of labour market information. While the Government reports that the ONEFP is operational, it also indicates that the draft law governing its activities is yet to be promulgated. Consequently, no registries exist that can provide data on the national, regional, or local employment situation. In this context, data produced in 2017–18 and published in October 2019 in a study on Employment and the Informal Sector (ERI-ESI) carried out by the National Statistics Institute, represents the most recent and the most in-depth source of information in this area. Pursuant to this study, the great majority of employed persons in the country – 86.3 per cent – are underqualified.

The Committee observes that the country is encountering significant difficulties in implementing the Convention and that this situation has persisted over time. While it is conscious of the financial and human constraints faced by the Government, the Committee wishes to recall that coupled with an integrated and transformative employment policy and sound data collection mechanisms, a public employment service represents a key component of the set of measures needed to achieve full employment. Respectively, the Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122), the Labour Statistics Convention, 1985 (No. 160), jointly with the present Convention and the Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181), provide (together with their respective accompanying Recommendations) key guidance in putting in place the measures needed to secure sustainable economic growth and promote decent work creation. In this respect, the Committee cannot overemphasize the importance of the Government dedicating, in partnership with the social partners, the needed attention to these issues so as to lay the ground for reaching positive outcomes in the future in terms of creation of decent work, enhancement of productivity and reduction of poverty. The Committee therefore wishes to draw the Government’s attention to the possibility to mobilize the potential of recently launched ILO tools such as the Employment Policy Design Lab, which was created as a space to showcase approaches, tools and good country practices that can support policymakers develop and implement more effective employment policies compliant with ILO standards in this subject area. This new tool comprises special thematic focuses on key areas for policy innovation, including as regards the use of employment services to support transitions but also more broadly on designing pro-employment macroeconomic, sectoral policies and budgeting as well as employment policies conducive to green recovery and youth employment and that harness the potential of digitalization. The Government may also wish to consider availing itself of the technical assistance of the ILO, particularly its Department on Employment, in designing the measures aimed at ensuring the best possible organization of the employment market as an integral part of the national programme for the achievement and maintenance of full employment and the development and use of productive resources (Articles 1 and 3 of the Convention), in cooperation with the social partners (Articles 4 and 5). In view of the above, the Committee once again expresses the hope that the Government will take without delay decisive steps such as those suggested above to ensure compliance with the Convention.

Articles 7 and 8 of the Convention. Specific groups of workers. While noting the Government’s indication that no specific measures have been taken to provide employment services aimed at young persons, the Committee observes that the text of the Statute of the ONEFP places a particular focus on the importance of employment and professional training for young persons, as well as on the promotion of employment and decent work for women and persons with disabilities. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the nature and scope of measures envisaged to ensure the provision of targeted employment services for young people in all regions of the country as part of a comprehensive employment policy framework based on tripartite consultations covering macro, meso and micro policy areas relevant to the national employment priorities. In addition, the Committee requests the Government to provide information concerning the measures taken or envisaged to respond to the needs of other specific groups who face particular barriers to entering or remaining in the labour market, including women and persons with disabilities.

The Committee further observes that well-functioning public employment services are in a position to provide more intensive support for disadvantaged groups working in the informal economy or at risk of slipping into long-term unemployment or continued inactivity. To this end, a significant number of national public employment services are shifting their approach by considering, jobseekers’ competences in a more diverse way. Rather than solely relying on formal qualifications and traditional job roles, they tend to assess a broader range of knowledge and skills. This change offers jobseekers the chance to showcase their abilities for specific jobs, increasing opportunities and empowerment, particularly for vulnerable groups, including informal workers. Partnerships with workers’ and employers’ organizations, even if they are informal, also ensure that skills training is tailored to the immediate and medium-term needs of the labour market. Civil society organizations can play a helpful role too, since they often have a close connection to target groups and possess the agility to communicate and try out solutions on the ground. Also, a number of countries have introduced income support schemes for informal workers falling into unemployment and which register with the public employment service. In low- and middle-income countries, where a large proportion of economic activities are informal, employment services often provide support as regards entrepreneurship and self-employment. The Committee would therefore particularly welcome receiving with the next report information on whether and how the Government has considered to use the public employment service, in combination with active labour market policies, as a means to foster the transition from the informal to the formal economy.

Article 11. Effective cooperation between the public employment service and private employment agencies. Noting that private employment agencies can, in collaboration with a well-functioning public employment service, play a critical role in improving labour market efficiency, the Committee wishes to draw attention to the ILO Campaign to promote the joint ratification of Convention No. 88 and the Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181).The Committee therefore invites the Government to consider ratifying also Convention No. 181, as it represents the most up-to-date instrument in the area of private employment services which recognizes the role of these agencies to complement and contribute to achieving the effective implementation of the objectives of Convention No. 88.

Part IV of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee again hopes that the Observatory of employment and vocational training (ONEFP) will soon be in a position to provide the Government with the statistical data needed for informed policy-making.