Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Repetition

Reorganization of the employment office network. In response to the observation made in 2011, the Government indicates in its report received in December 2012 that the Ministry of Labour and Employment Development (MITRADEL) is working with the Public Employment Service on the decentralization of Panama’s employment offices and, in coordination with the National Institute of Vocational Training for Human Development (INADEH), in setting up offices at the headquarters of INADEH’s training centres. The Government refers to the signing of two inter-institutional cooperation agreements between MITRADEL and the National Secretariat for Persons with Disabilities in December 2011 and between MITRADEL and INADEH in September 2010 for the provision of adequate physical and personal space to organize occupational training and job placement programmes and projects. Another purpose of the agreements is to collect data and conduct research on the needs of the labour market. The Government adds details of the operational workplans being implemented by the National Employment Department (DGE), along with statistical data on the implementation of programmes by various departments. The report also provides information on four assessments by the Labour Market Observatory and Employment Research Department of the labour insertion problems of different categories of workers and regions in particular. The outcome of this process was the registration of some 50,974 requests for employment and the placement of some 63,529 workers between July 2009 and July 2012. The Committee invites the Government to include in its next report information on the number of regional and local public employment offices and on the status of the decentralization process. The Committee asks the Government to continue including in its report up-to-date statistical information on the applications for employment received, the vacancies notified and the number of persons placed in employment.

Participation of the social partners. The Government indicates in its report that close communication and collaboration are maintained with the social partners, especially the employers’ sector, in devising specific activities as part of the programmes organized by the Public Employment Service, such as special recruitment drives at the request of employers, the signing of pre-contractual agreements under the Labour Insertion Support Programme and the holding of job fairs. The Committee requests the Government to provide in its next report examples of how the social partners participate in the activities of the Public Employment Service. The Committee recalls that Articles 4 and 5 of the Convention call for the creation of advisory committees to ensure the full cooperation of representatives of employers and workers in the organization and operation of the employment service.