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The Committee takes note of the Government's report, which contains a detailed reply to its direct request of 1990.

1. In its report, the Government states that its employment policy strategy has been centred on assisting in the pursuit of macroeconomic goals and balances. It states that the decision to resort to a programme of structural adjustment of the economy designed to create the conditions for its sustained growth has been the means of achieving an increase in employment in sectors of activity connected with the production of goods saleable in subregional and extracontinental trade. Priority has been given to jobs in the field of productive employment through incentives for the export of manufactures, the strengthening of state credits for small and medium-sized undertakings, and the support of private efforts for the training, administration and management of undertakings. The greatest problems confronting the Government in attaining the goal of full employment are said to be the high inflation rate, the competition confronting national products in international markets, difficulties in raising the level of investment, and the rise in the price of oil. The Government states that, as a result of the "lost decade of the 1980s", unemployment is of a "structural" nature.

2. The Committee thanks the Government for its analysis of the particular difficulties that have arisen in pursuing the objectives of the Convention. It trusts that the Government will continue its efforts to declare and pursue, "as a major goal", an active employment policy within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy (Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention). In this connection the Committee also refers to Part IX of the Recommendation (No. 169) concerning Employment Policy (Supplementary Provisions), 1984, annexed to the report form for the Convention, and trusts that a fair distribution of the social costs and benefits of structural adjustment will be promoted; it asks the Government to be good enough to supply in its next report information concerning the measures designed to bring the supply of and demand for labour into harmony with the consequent structural changes. The Committee would like to continue receiving detailed information on the situation, level and trends of employment in the country and on the degree to which the employment objectives included in development plans and programmes have been attained.

3. The Government indicates that in the Higher Wage Council, over and above professions of good will, it appears that the employers are prepared to increase employment if that does not increase costs and that the workers are also prepared for employment to be expanded provided that the goals claiming real growth of wages are not scaled down. The Committee hopes that efforts will be stepped up to ensure that the persons (representatives of employers' and workers' organisations and of other sectors of the economically active population, such as those working in the rural sector and in the informal sector) concerned with the measures to be adopted are consulted with a view to taking their experience and views fully into account in formulating and executing employment policy (Article 3).

4. In a direct request, the Committee is requesting information on the relationship between the restriction of overtime and the employment policy, the measures adopted in favour of certain categories of workers, the relationship between employment policy and vocational training and the technical cooperation provided by the ILO in the field of the Convention.