Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1991, published 78th ILC session (1991)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Spain (Ratification: 1970)

1. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee is grateful for the very detailed information sent by the Government in its report for the period ending 30 June 1990. The Government indicates that the employment promotion policy implemented during the period covered followed the same course as has been pursued since 1984: the programmes to assist job creation in the private sector and the special employment programmes for the public sector have been maintained. Since 1990, special employment plans for depressed rural areas have been implemented by the Autonomous Communities. Special measures to promote employment include an increase in the jobs on offer in the public sector, tax incentives granting tax reductions for job creation, and assistance to geographical mobility, day-care centres for children and migrant workers. The most recent objectives of the National Plan for Training and Occupational Integration concern the integration of young workers into the labour market and the vocational training of workers with family responsibilities.

2. According to the information supplied, there has been a sustained increase in employment, of approximately 4 per cent in 1989, particularly in the construction and services sectors, but there have been substantial decreases in the rural sector and in the Autonomous Communities of Andalucia and Extremadura (where the unemployment rate is now around 26 per cent). Employment of wage earners increased by 6.2 per cent, particularly involving temporary workers. Their proportion of wage-earning employment has greatly increased from 15.6 per cent in the second quarter of 1987 to 28.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 1989. The number of persons in permanent jobs has increased by 101,200 and in temporary jobs by 405,400. There are more male than female employees in permanent employment (73.4 per cent in respect of men as opposed to 67.8 per cent in respect of women). Temporary contracts are also more frequent among young workers. However, taking account of the substantial increase in the economically active population - particularly in the case of women entering the labour market - the unemployment rate is particularly high (approximately 20 per cent or more between 1986 and 1988, and around 17 per cent in 1989 and 1990). Long-term unemployment still accounts for approximately 50 per cent of total unemployment, and the unemployment rate is three times higher among young workers than among other categories of workers.

3. In reply to previous comments, the Government provides detailed information on the results of the different recruitment procedures designed to promote employment which make it possible to recruit specific categories of workers which encounter difficulties in entering the labour market (young people, women, older workers, the disabled). The Committee takes note of the document concerning precarious employment, submitted by the Trade Union Confederation of Workers' Committees in September 1990, which points out that instability and fleeting attendance at the place of work not only destroy the basic concepts of democratic society but also lead to a supply of labour of low productivity. The Committee recalls its comments on the application of the Termination of Employment Convention, 1982 (No. 158), in which it requested particulars of the use made of certain types of contracts of employment which might avoid the protection provided for in the above Convention, and would be grateful if the Government in its next report on Convention No. 122 would continue to provide information on the progress achieved in satisfying the needs of all categories of persons that frequently encounter difficulties in finding lasting employment.

4. The Committee notes the agreements reached since January 1990 in the discussions between the Government and the trade unions. The Committee hopes that, in accordance with the provisions of Article 3 of the Convention, consultations with the representatives of the persons concerned will make it possible for the latter's experience and views to be taken fully into account and for their full co-operation to be obtained in formulating and implementing employment policy. It would be grateful if the Government would continue to provide the information required by the report form to show developments in the area of employment policy, including details on the results of employment promotion measures both nationally and in the Autonomous Communities.