Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1992, published 79th ILC session (1992)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Czechia (Ratification: 1993)

The Committee has taken note of the Government's reports for the period ending June 1991. It notes with interest the entry into force of the Employment Act of 4 December 1990, prepared in collaboration with the competent departments of the ILO. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, the onset of declared unemployment at the end of the period in question testifies to the break from the employment situation previously prevailing and, in particular, to the abandonment of the system of centralised direction of the economy, which managed to ensure full employment only at the expense of labour productivity. The Government states in its report that the establishment of an efficient labour market is an essential feature of its policy, which is henceforth aimed at speeding up the constitution of a market economy system. To enable it to appreciate to the full the application of the Convention in this new context, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply in its next report full information on each of the provisions of the Convention and on each question in the report form. In particular it asks the Government to indicate the decrees adopted pursuant to section 31 of the Employment Act to give effect to the Act and to refer to the following points:

1. The Committee notes that unemployment, which appeared in 1990, has greatly increased since the beginning of 1991. It had reached 3.8 per cent of the economically active population by 30 June 1991 and, according to OECD estimates, 7.5 per cent by the end of the year. Its progress affects the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic very differently; their unemployment rates were 2.6 per cent and 6.3 per cent respectively on 30 June 1991 and 3.9 per cent and 10.3 per cent respectively at the end of the year. The Government mentions, among population groups particularly affected, the Gypsies, the handicapped and young school-leavers in search of their first job. The Committee hopes that the Government will be able to supply in its next report detailed statistical data concerning the level and trends of employment, underemployment and unemployment and concerning the duration of periods of unemployment in the country as a whole, in each of the Republics and at the regional level, in the various sectors of economic activity, and for various population categories such as, in particular, young people, women, older workers and the handicapped. Please supply information on the measures taken or contemplated to collect and analyse the relevant statistical data.

2. The Committee notes with interest that, in the words of the Employment Act of 4 December 1990, "Attainment of full, productive and freely chosen employment is one of the fundamental goals of the economic and social policy of the State". It would be grateful if the Government would indicate the procedures adopted to ensure that the goal of full, productive and freely chosen employment is duly taken into account in implementing the programme of transition to the market economy, in particular in such matters as: reform of the regime of property and enterprise management; budgetary, monetary and exchange rate policies; investment, price, income and wage policies; and global, sectoral and regional industrial policies. The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government, in response to its direct request, concerning employment in the agricultural sector. Please continue to provide detailed information on the development of employment in that sector and on the measures adopted in connection with rural development.

3. The Committee notes that, in the words of section 3 of the Employment Act, "State employment policy shall be aimed at maintaining a balance between supply of and demand for labour, at promoting productive utilisation of manpower resources and at securing the right of citizens to employment". The succeeding articles deal in turn with employment services and retraining. Please supply information on the measures taken or contemplated to give effect to the provisions of the Employment Act in order to develop the employment services and adapt them to their new tasks. Please communicate the available data on the number and nature of cases processed by the employment services and on the time taken to respond to demands for and offers of employment. With regard to retraining, the Government's report indicates that measures of vocational reorientation, whereby workers' skills can be quickly adapted both within the undertaking and through the implementation of national and regional programmes, are an essential feature of its active employment policy. Please continue supplying information on policies and programmes in the field of vocational training for workers in employment and for jobseekers, taking into account the relevant provisions of Conventions Nos. 140 and 142. The Committee notes in this connection that the report on the application of Convention No. 142 has not been received. In hopes to have at its disposal at its next session full information on developments in the area of human resources development.

4. The Committee notes with interest the provisions of the Employment Act requiring employment services to pay special attention to certain jobseekers such as young people seeking their first job, older workers, workers who have lost their employment as a result of structural changes, and the long-term unemployed; it also notes the special provisions concerning the employment of disabled persons. Please supply information on the measures taken pursuant to those provisions to promote the employment of these particular categories of the population.

5. The Government describes a series of active measures to promote employment, including fiscal incentives for the recruitment of handicapped or young persons and for apprentice training; the coverage of part of the expense involved in creating a new job when it is filled by an unemployed or a young person; the promotion of geographical mobility and of flexibility in forms of employment; early retirement and restrictions on the economic activity of retirees. The Committee notes that according to the Government it is not yet possible to make a precise assessment of the effects of each of these measures on employment. It hopes that the Government will be in a position to supply such an assessment in its next report.

6. The Committee notes from the "principles" enunciated in introducing the draft Employment Act that the active employment policy will also have as a goal the social welfare of workers in the event of temporary loss of employment. Specific provisions to that effect have been included in the Act. Please supply information on the implementation of the regime of unemployment compensation and, more generally, on the coordination of social welfare measures with employment and labour market policies.

7. The Committee has noted with interest the provisions for consultation with employers' and workers' organisations in particular for the purposes of applying the Employment Act. In addition it has been informed of the establishment at the federal level of a Council for Economic and Social Agreement composed of representatives of the Government, of the Czech and Slovak Confederation of Trade Unions, and of the Employers' Association Coordinating Committee, which has concluded a General Agreement on Wages specifying that the State shall undertake to devise an overall employment strategy. Please supply information concerning the clauses of that Agreement which relate to employment policy and concerning the way the representatives of the circles concerned are consulted with regard to employment policy.