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1. The Committee notes the Government's brief report. It notes with interest that the unemployment rate, which reached almost 17 per cent in 1994, fell rapidly to below 10 per cent in June 1998. Nevertheless, the Government states that it is concerned by the persistence of marked regional disparities in the context of low worker mobility, particularly high levels of unemployment among women and unskilled young people, and the level of long-term unemployment.

2. In its report, the Government indicates the main priorities of its programme to promote productive employment and combat unemployment for 1997-2000. It refers in particular to the reinforcement of the regional and rural development policy, the promotion of the competitiveness of enterprises and the speeding up of educational reforms, but provides no information on the specific measures taken or contemplated in these areas. The only detailed information relates to provisions that have been adopted to make the qualifying conditions for unemployment benefit more restrictive and to allocate a greater proportion of the available resources to financing active labour market policy measures. In this regard, the Committee hopes to find in the Government's next report the information that has already been requested on the manner in which the unemployment benefit policy contributes to achieving the objectives of the Convention. It asks the Government once again to provide comprehensive information on the results of the various active labour market policy measures, such as employment subsidies, public works, loans to support self-employment and training programmes for the unemployed. The Committee also invites the Government to describe the measures taken to reinforce the network of employment services and improve their effectiveness.

3. The Committee recalls that, under Article 2 of the Convention, the measures to be adopted to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment must be adopted "within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy". The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate the main thrust of, for example, its monetary, fiscal and exchange rate policies, trade policy, and prices and incomes and wages policies, and indicate how they contribute to the promotion of employment. The Committee also asks the Government to provide full information on the manner in which consultations are carried out, in accordance with Article 3 of the Convention, and to indicate the role of the Higher Employment Council in this respect.

4. The Committee refers to its earlier observations made in the context of the follow-up to the conclusions and recommendations of the committee set up to examine the representation alleging non-compliance with the Convention, which were approved by the Governing Body at its 265th Session in March 1996 (document GB.265/12/5). The Committee trusts that the Government's next report will contain all the information necessary to assess the manner in which the Convention is applied.