CMNT_TITLE

The Committee took note of the Government's report and the information supplied in answer to its previous direct request. It would be grateful if the Government would provide additional information on the following points in its next report.

1. The Government indicates that the creation of 72,000 jobs per year, on average, has enabled the unemployment rate to be reduced from 14.2 per cent in 1986 to 11.4 per cent in 1991. Please continue to provide statistical data which are as detailed as possible on the level and trends in employment, underemployment and unemployment, by sector of activity, sex and age. Please indicate the measures taken or under consideration to improve procedures for collecting and analysing the statistical data necessary for the formulation of employment policy measures.

2. The Committee notes that the promotion of productive employment and self-employment are among the main objectives of the first five-year economic, social and cultural plan (1989-93). Please state the manner in which employment objectives are coordinated with the other economic and social objectives in the implementation of the above plan, indicating, in particular, how the objective of full, productive and freely chosen employment (Article 1 of the Convention) is taken into account in budgetary, monetary and trade policies, and prices, incomes and wages policies.

3. The Government indicates that the main objective of its employment policy is the development of employment services, whose functions have been stepped up by the provisions of the new Labour Code. Please provide information on the organization and functioning of the employment services and all available data on the number and nature of the cases they have dealt with.

4. The Government also refers to various projects and programmes geared in particular towards the development of self-employment, rural employment, and the employment of young people, women and the disabled. The Committee would be grateful if in its next report the Government would provide detailed information on the measures taken and the results obtained in each of the above areas. In this connection, it invites the Government to take into consideration the relevant provisions of Recommendations Nos. 122 and 169. Please also indicate the manner in which education and training policies are coordinated with prospective employment opportunities.

5. With reference to its previous direct request, the Committee notes the provisions of the new Labour Code, which concern the composition of the Higher Council of Labour. Please state whether this Council is consulted as to employment policy measures. Please indicate, more generally, the manner in which representatives of the persons affected - who, in addition to representatives of employers' and workers' organizations, could include representatives of other sectors of the economically active population, such as those working in the rural sector and in the informal sector - are consulted concerning employment policies, in accordance with Article 3.