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

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Bolivia (Plurinational State of) (Ratification: 1977)

1. The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in reply to its previous comments. The Government recalls that, as a result of the world-wide crisis which began in 1980, and the fall in the international prices of minerals, there was a serious deterioration in the national balance of payments and a drastic reduction in income from taxation, which obliged the Government to take economic, fiscal and monetary measures to combat the serious situation. The Government repeats that it will implement emergency employment programmes including an active employment policy as referred to in Article 1, paragraph 1, of the Convention and in accordance with the measures proposed in the Employment Policy (Supplementary Provisions) Recommendation, 1984 (No. 169). The Government refers in particular to the Emergency Social Fund through which employment generation measures in urban and rural areas were financed, in order to implement such projects for the sectors most affected by economic restructuring.

2. The Committee notes that the major success of the stabilisation policy pursued by the authorities since the end of 1985 has been to control hyper-inflation: indeed, the inflation rate has been reduced from 2,800 per cent to 15 per cent. Nevertheless, the Committee notes with concern that, according to the information available in the Office, unemployment has increased steadily, and it can be estimated that one-fifth of the economically active population was unemployed or underemployed at the end of 1987. The informal sector has absorbed some of the workers who lost their employment as a consequence of the rationalisation measures carried out in the public sector: for example, according to the Government, a total of 23,000 workers were redeployed from the Bolivian Mining Corporation (COMIBOL) of whom 8,000 chose to enter the rural or informal sectors. Furthermore, it appears from the Government's report that the economic crisis has resulted in reductions in vocational training programmes.

3. The Committee once again trusts that the Government will declare and pursue, in accordance with Article 1, paragraph 1, of the Convention, "an active policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment". In this connection, the Committee recalls Paragraph 37(h) of Recommendation No. 169, which provides that, when adopting adjustment policies, governments should ensure that they promote employment and the satisfaction of basic needs. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply detailed information in its next report on the results achieved by employment programmes.

4. Article 3. In reply to its previous observation, the Government indicates that formal consultation procedures with representatives of employers' and workers' organisations will be gradually introduced as a function of the subsidies provided to enterprises. It states that consultations with representatives of the economically active population, such as those working in the rural and informal sectors, will be deferred until reliable representatives are found, since at present it is difficult to identify, quantify, or localise them, etc.: it is impossible for the State to know what their needs and requirements are in order to be able to give its support or implement its projects. The Committee again observes that in general the provisions of the Convention and of Recommendations Nos. 122 and 169 on employment policy do not provide for the postponement or suspension of consultations; the consultations provided for in the Convention should not be limited to matters of employment policy in the narrow sense, but should be extended to all aspects of economic policy which affect employment. Furthermore, in addition to providing for consultations in the formulation of employment policies, the instruments also envisage obtaining the co-operation of representatives of employers and workers in the implementation of this policy (see paragraphs 96 and 100 of the Committee's General Survey of 1972). The Committee therefore trusts that the Government will supply detailed information in its next report on the holding of the consultations required under Article 3 of the Convention.

5. The Government refers in its report to the technical assistance projects submitted to the ILO concerning the organisation of a labour census, the improvement of working conditions and employment in the mining and rural sectors, and employment creation. The Committee hopes that, taking into account the matters raised above, technical assistance projects will receive the necessary financial support for their implementation in order to assist the Government in promoting the application of the provisions of this Convention. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would continue supplying detailed information on the action that is taken and the results that are achieved by projects undertaken with the assistance and assessment of the ILO in order to resolve the problem of unemployment and underemployment (Part V of the report form).

6. In a direct request, the Committee is asking for other information on the application of the Convention.