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1. The Committee has taken note of the information contained in the Government’s reports received in May 2003 and October 2004. It also notes the comments formulated by the Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KSPU) dated 9 September 2004 concerning issues related to school closures, as well as the reply of the Government to the said comments.

2. Adoption of an active employment policy within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy. The Government indicated in its report that, in 2003, the number of employed people between 15 and 70 years of age rose by 154,000 to over 20.5 million people. The unemployment rate was 10.1 per cent of the economically active population, while youth unemployment also represented a serious problem, as it stood at 24 per cent. The Government also indicated that the rate of long-term unemployment had fallen in recent years. In addition, the number of workers on leave without pay at the instigation of the administration of enterprises had significantly dropped compared to previous years, while the number of part-time workers had fallen by 12.7 per cent, resulting in a significant decrease in working time loss. The Government stated that, in order to provide employment for citizens with physical disabilities and other groups of socially disadvantaged people, a national programme for the vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with physical disabilities for 2001-05 had been established. Furthermore, the Government indicated in its report of October 2004 that vocational training for unemployed people was organized by the state employment service depending on the specialist areas which are in demand in the regional labour market, in order for people to be recruited to specific jobs. To this end, the state employment service provided training to 175,500 people in 2003 and to 108,800 people in the first five months of 2004.

3. The Committee understands that the Government newly elected in 2004 intends to create an annual 1 million jobs from 2006 through 2009, most of them emerging in the sphere of high technology production, in farming, in the social spheres in rural areas, in services and in the tourist industry. To that end, Parliament is to adopt new legislation on job training and retraining of personnel, on the creation of incentives to employers to retrain personnel and on educational and research programmes. In this regard, the Committee recalls that it is essential from the outset for employment objectives to be included as a major goal in the formulation of economic and social policy if these objectives are truly to be an integral part of the policies that are adopted. The Committee encourages governments, in consultation with the social partners, to ensure that the competent authorities responsible for other policy areas are aware of their obligation to consider employment objectives when formulating economic and social policy (paragraph 490 of the General Survey of 2004 on promoting employment). The Committee hopes that the Government’s next report will contain information on labour market policies, with a detailed description of the manner in which the main aspects of general economic policy contribute to employment promotion. In particular, it requests the Government to indicate the manner in which employment objectives are taken into account in the adoption of measures in such fields as monetary, budgetary and taxation policy, and price, income and wage policy. Please also describe the measures adopted or envisaged with regard to job creation in regions where mines are being closed and miners laid off, areas that suffered following the Chernobyl disaster, small towns dependent on a single industry and depressed areas.

4. Employment statistics. The Committee hopes that, in its next report, the Government will provide detailed statistics on the situation and trends of employment and that it will be in a position to specify how these statistics are used in deciding on and reviewing employment policy measures (Article 2 of the Convention).

5. Participation of the social partners in the formulation and application of policies. The Committee recalls that governments and representative organizations of employers and workers share responsibility for ensuring that representatives of the more vulnerable or marginalized sectors of the active population are associated as closely as possible with the formulation and implementation of measures of which they should be the prime beneficiaries (see General Survey, op. cit., paragraph 493). The Committee trusts that the Government will provide information in its next report on the consultations held on the subjects covered by the Convention with the representatives of employers’ and workers’ organizations, as well as representatives of rural workers and of the informal economy (Article 3).