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Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Senegal (RATIFICATION: 1966)

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Observation

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Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Coordination of employment policy with other economic and social policy objectives, including poverty reduction. The Committee notes with regret that the Government does not provide the detailed information requested on the impact and implementation of each of the strategies of the National Employment Policy (PNE) adopted in 2015, including on the large-scale creation of jobs through the Emerging Senegal Plan (PSE). The Committee notes, however, the existence of a 2018 African Development Bank study entitled Impact of the Emerging Senegal Plan (PSE) on Employment, in which the ILO was involved, which emphasizes that “investment in priority sectors led to the creation of 186,932 direct and indirect/induced jobs […] but [that] conceals a wide variety in terms of the quality of jobs, most of which are low-paying and low-productivity”. Moreover, the Committee notes, with interest, the adoption of a New National Employment Policy for the period 2017–2020 and the introduction of a new Emergency Programme for the Socio-Economic Integration and Employment of Young People: xëyu ndaw ñi, for the period 2021–2023. The youth employment programme comprises four pillars, the aim of which is to create jobs in the short and medium term: the special recruitment of thousands of agents in sectors such as education, reforestation, cleaning and voluntary work; carrying out community works such as town paving, road maintenance, housing and port construction; support for labour-intensive public investment projects; the adoption of measures to support training and private initiative, including through micro-credits. The Government adds that between 2010 and 2020, several structures were established to support employment for young people and women, such as: the National Agency for the Promotion of Youth Employment (ANPEJ), which has facilitated the reintegration of more than 16,000 young people; the General Delegation for Rapid Entrepreneurship for Women and Youth (DER/FJ) which has supported more than 105,000 people; the Priority Investments Guarantee Fund (FONGIP), which has led to the creation and strengthening of 40,700 jobs; the National Agency for Integration and Agricultural Development (ANIDA), which has contributed to the creation of more than 35,500 jobs; the Sovereign Fund for Strategic Investment (FONSIS), which has contributed to the creation or retention of more than 3,700 jobs; the Vocational and Technical Training Fund (3FPT), which has financed the training of more than 29,700 people; the Community Agricultural Areas Programme (PRODAC), which has led to the creation of 11 community agricultural areas; and the Development and Support Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (ADEPME), which has supported more than 1,400 small and medium-sized enterprises. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide updated and detailed information on all active employment measures targeting specific categories of workers vulnerable to decent work deficits, such as young people, women, persons with disabilities, workers with few or no qualifications and migrant workers, and their impact on the creation of productive and lasting jobs. The Committee also reiterates its request to the Government to provide detailed information on the impact and implementation of each of the PNE strategies of the National Employment Plan (PNE) adopted in 2015. It also requests the Government to provide information on the implementation of the New National Employment Policy for the period 2017–2020.Furthermore, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the implementation and impact of the Operational Action Plan for Youth Employment (PAOEJ), validated in March 2018, as well as on the linkages or coordination between this programme and the Emergency Programme for the Socio-Economic Integration and Employment of Young People: xëyu ndaw ñi, introduced in 2021.

Educational and training programmes. The Government indicates that it has improved effective access to education in Senegal, including by the construction of 104 new colleges and three new universities and, also, the opening of 26 digital spaces in communities and five Higher Institutes of Vocational Education (ISEP). The Government reports that these initiatives have contributed to improving the school enrolment rate in primary education (84.9 per cent in 2019) and intermediate education (49.8 per cent in 2019). Concerning technical vocational training (FPT), the Government indicates that the number of learners has increased by 52 per cent, from 333 learners per 100,000 population in 2013 to 505 learners per 100,000 population in 2019. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the nature, scope and impact of the measures taken in the area of vocational education and training to better respond to current and future labour market demands. The Committee further reiterates its request for statistical data, disaggregated by age and sex, on those who have benefited from these measures.

Article 2. Collection and use of employment data. In relation to employment trends, the Government indicates that according to the National Agency of Statistics and Demography (ANSD), the unemployment rate was 24.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2021, an increase of 7.8 percentage points in comparison with the fourth quarter of 2020. The Government observes that unemployment is higher in rural areas (29.8 per cent) than in urban areas (19.1 per cent). Unemployment also affects more women (35.8 per cent) than men (13 per cent). The Government adds that more than half of the working age population participated in the labour market in the fourth quarter of 2021 (55.8 per cent). Thus, the participation rate decreased by 2.1 percentage points in comparison with the same period in 2020. This rate varies according to place of residence, with 57.2 per cent in urban areas in comparison with 54.3 per cent in rural areas. The participation rate is also higher among men (64.5 per cent) than among women (48.8 per cent). The Government did not provide a copy of the ANSD report to which it referred. The Government provided a copy of the 2021 Annual Labour Statistics Report, produced by the Directorate of Labour and Education Statistics (DTSE), without commenting on the content of the report. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide updated information, including statistics disaggregated by sex and by age, on employment, unemployment and underemployment trends in Senegal. It also reiterates its request to the Government to provide a copy of the relevant reports produced in this regard. The Committee, further, draws the Government’s attention to the importance of the Labour Statistics Convention, 1985 (No. 160), and the related Labour Statistics Recommendation, 1985 (No. 170), inasmuch as these instruments constitute benchmarks for the establishment of modern and integrated labour statistics systems and provide the elements needed to describe, understand, analyse and plan the many and complex aspects of a modern economy and society at large. The Committee reminds the Government that it may avail itself of ILO technical assistance on the development of labour statistics, or were it to consider the ratification of Convention No. 160.

Article 3. Participation of the social partners in the design and formulation of policies.Noting, with regret, that the Government does not provide the information requested on the manner in which consultations with the social partners have contributed to the implementation of the PNE and how their experience and views were fully taken into account in the formulation of the policy, the Committee reiterates its request to the Government in this regard. It also reiterates its request to the Government to indicate whether consultations were held with representatives of rural workers, workers in the informal economy and other categories of workers affected by the measures taken.