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1. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its general report in 1987, and in the report on the application of the Convention for the period ending 30 June 1988. It notes with interest the adoption of the VIIth National Economic and Social Development Plan, 1987-91, and the priority which it gives to employment promotion, which the Government has stated remains a fundamental objective of the national development strategy.

2. The VIIth Plan notes an imbalance between employment offers and demand which could not be corrected by emigration during the VIth Plan because of a reversal in migratory movements. Unemployment in 1986 was estimated at 264,000 persons, or a rate of 13.8 per cent of the active population (as compared with 11.4 per cent in 1980). The VIIth Plan provides for the creation of nearly 240,000 new jobs, of which more than half are to be in the service sector. The active population is expected to increase at an accelerated pace and, at the end of the Plan period, the Plan provides that only 69 per cent of the additional demand for employment (346,000) will be covered by job creation. In order to maintain unemployment at tolerable levels, the Plan adopts an employment strategy based on three principal options: renewal of economic growth; a "new policy for enterprises" based on improvements in competitivity; and action on job demand aimed at attenuating present demographic increases and implementing a training policy better adapted to the needs of the economy and to the need for insertion into employment of the young unskilled.

3. The Committee also notes two categories of legislative measures taken recently in relation to economic and employment policy. One category aims at encouraging investments in the manufacturing, agriculture and fishing sectors, through various incentives contained in investment codes adopted for these activities. The other category is intended to promote the employment of young persons by the establishment of a system for voluntary early retirement which will make compensatory recruitment necessary; the granting of financial advantages (subsidies, exemption from social charges) to undertakings which hire young persons between 17 and 25 years of age who have completed a study or training curriculum; the reduction of vocational training taxes; and the implementation of a system of internships for initiation of young graduates to work.

4. The Committee notes that the programmes and measures taken indicate the Government's willingness to formulate and apply a policy which promotes the Convention's objectives. The employment situation nevertheless remains a source of concern, and the planners expect unemployment to increase. The Committee hopes that the Government will indicate in its next report the degree to which the employment objectives defined in the VIIth Plan are being achieved, indicating whether particular difficulties have been encountered in this connection. It would also be grateful if the Governemnt would provide information on the practical effect of the measures adopted to promote the access of young persons to productive and stable employment. Finally, it would be grateful if the Government would communicate information on consultations with representatives of the persons affected, as provided in Article 3 of the Convention, concerning the implementation of the employment policy in the framework of the VIIth Plan.