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The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

1. Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Employment trends and active labour market policies. The Committee notes the Government’s report received in November 2007 including replies to the 2006 direct request. The Government provides that the rate of unemployment has fallen to 5.6 per cent in 2006, down from 6.9 per cent in 2004 and 6.2 per cent in 2005. As for the first quarter in 2007, the unemployment rate reached 7.4 per cent in the cities. It further indicates that it has implemented the Home Statutory Order No. 28 of 1 December 2006 on the collection of income tax and labour market contributions with the objective of financing continued training and competency development in the field of vocational training. Also, the objective of Home Rule Parliament Regulation No. 3 of 1 June 2006, amending the Home Rule Parliament Regulation on rehabilitation, is to increase opportunities for finding work by evaluating the unemployed person’s ability to work and, subsequently, by offering individually tailored retraining. The Committee asks the Government to provide further information in its next report on the number of persons benefiting from the abovementioned measures. Please also indicate how the Government and the social partners plan to match supply and demand in the labour market and the difficulties that are encountered in achieving this goal.

2. Collection and analysis of labour market data. The Government indicates that the labour market database Suliaq has not yet been fully implemented. It expects that Suliaq will be fully exploitable during the coming years as the operation of new employment centres in the individual municipalities will lead to improved, automated collection of statistical data. Within the framework of Regulation No. 10 of 18 December 2003 on the public employment service, the Government has entered into an agreement with the municipalities about employment centres. These centres commenced operation in October 2006 and received people looking for jobs, training programmes, courses and other social benefits. The centres also provide labour market data to the Suliaq database. The Committee asks the Government to indicate in its next report the progress achieved in the collection of employment data with an indication of the employment measures adopted as a result of the analysis resulting from the implementation of the new labour market database.

3. Article 3. Participation of the social partners in the formulation and application of policies. The Government indicates that the objective of the Competency Development Council is to assist the Government on matters concerning competence development in the area of vocational training, and to enhance the coordination of initiatives in the area of labour market and vocational training. The Committee asks the Government to continue providing information on the consultations held with the social partners including details of their contribution to the implementation and evaluation of an active employment policy.