Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1989, published 76th ILC session (1989)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Belgium (Ratification: 1969)

The Committee notes the Government's two reports on the application of the Convention and the reply to its previous observation.

The very detailed information which they contain covers a range of specific measures taken to mitigate the effects on the labour market of the programme of economic recovery put into effect since 1982.

Referring to its previous comments, the Committee notes in particular the extension by law for 1987 and 1988 of the so-called "5-3-3" agreements as well as the complementary "Employment Promotion" agreement. The 5-3-3 agreements provide for a 5 per cent reduction of working time with a 3 per cent compensatory recruitment of labour, employers being entitled to retain the product of the wage moderation which averages out at 3 per cent of the payroll. The "Employment Promotion" agreement invites enterprises to take new measures to promote employment (for example, recruitment of apprentices, part-time work, and career interruption) at a cost of up to 1.5 per cent of their total wage bill. Non-observance by employers of the obligations set out in the two types of agreement is sanctioned by the payment of a percentage of the wage bill into the Employment Fund.

The Committee also notes a new agreement to promote employment that has been in force since 1986, namely the inter-occupational agreement of 7 November 1986, which is a model agreement for the period 1987-88, marks the return to the principle of free joint negotiation, and is concerned principally with employment promotion, in particular for young people. It provides for the use of 0.5 per cent of the total payroll for this purpose. It also contains specific provisions for the reduction of working time, and other measures concerning problems of labour market flexibility. The Committee further notes that the Government, in its recommendations for the 1989-90 inter-occupational agreement, requests the social partners to continue their efforts in the area of employment creation and considers that the improvement in purchasing power of wage earners should involve an element of solidarity with the unemployed.

The many and continued efforts made in co-operation with the social partners, as called for by Article 3 of the Convention, bear witness to the Government's determination to implement an active employment policy. The Government states, in its report, that employment promotion should be the ultimate policy objective, and that competitivity and stability are indispensable to attaining that objective. In the absence of available or appropriate data to evaluate the general employment policy, the Committee notes that the trend towards a certain improvement in the labour market situation has been observed during the period 1986-88. Total employment continued to increase in 1986 and 1987 (although at a slower rate) and this growth can be attributed entirely to the private sector: employment has ceased to grow in the public sector with the implementation of economy measures since 1982. Unemployment shows a slight decrease while remaining at a high level. The Committee noted in its previous observation that the rate of unemployment was 12.4 per cent for the second quarter of 1986. Currently, the rate is approximately 11 per cent of the economically active population for the period 1986-88, the improvement being particularly marked among young people. On the other hand, long-term unemployment has continued to deteriorate. According to the latest edition of "Employment Perspectives" (OECD, September 1988), the incidence of long-term unemployment, that is the proportion of the unemployed who had been out of work for longer than 12 months, amounted to 70 per cent in 1987. Another cause for concern is the profound change in the type and structure of employment which the Government indicates has been the price to pay for the progress made since 1983: the "explosion" in part-time work (which has become the main source of employment creation); the appearance of precarious forms of employment and of so-called "peripheral" forms of employment, the increasing difficulty of finding the divisions between employment, unemployment and inactivity.

The Committee hopes that, in accordance with Article 2, the Government will continue to endeavour to decide on and keep under review, within the framework of a co-ordinated economic and social policy, the measures to be adopted for attaining the objectives of the Convention as set out in Article 1. It would be grateful if the Government would continue to supply information on any developments relating to the questions and concerns referred to above and if, when the appropriate data and analyses are available, it would supply a summary report on the impact on employment of economic and social policy measures (Part VI of the report form).