Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1994, published 81st ILC session (1994)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Türkiye (Ratification: 1977)

1. The Committee notes the Government's report for the period ending June 1992 which contains detailed information in answer to its previous comments and includes the observations made by the Turkish Confederation of Employer Associations (TISK).

2. In its report, the Government refers to factors and circumstances which adversely affected employment during the period in question, particularly the consequences of the Gulf crisis which led to the loss of approximately 100,000 jobs and the return to Turkey of 25,000 migrant workers employed in the region. In total, civilian employment dropped by 2.7 per cent between 1990 and 1991. The Committee also notes that the strong recovery in economic growth in 1992 (over 5 per cent) has not reduced the rate of registered unemployment, estimated to be approximately 8 per cent, and that the underemployment rate has attained roughly the same percentage. Certain major structural features of the employment market are still worrying, such as the continued rapid growth of the active population, the continued drop in the average activity rate, the low activity rate of women, particularly in urban areas, the particularly high incidence of unemployment among young people under 30 years of age who account for more than two-thirds of the total number of unemployed, and the large proportion of low-productivity jobs in the urban informal sector.

3. The Government sets out the main lines of its economic policy in 1993: combating inflation, reducing public sector deficits, strengthening business competitiveness and improving income distribution. In this connection, the report mentions plans for tax reforms and the privatization of state economic enterprises. The TISK considers that combating structural unemployment means reducing fiscal and parafiscal levies and the level of social contributions, and lowering wage costs. The Committee notes that the programme for privatizing state economic enterprises should result in the abolition of 230,000 jobs over a five year period. It asks the Government to indicate the nature of the accompanying measures referred to which are to ensure that redundant workers are redeployed in productive jobs. The Committee would also be grateful if the Government would give detailed information on the projects for the development of southern Anatolia and the expected incidence of these projects on employment. More generally, the Committee would appreciate more detailed information on the employment objectives and the priority given to them, and on how it is ensured that measures in areas such as monetary, budgetary and fiscal policies, prices, incomes and wages policies and regional development policies contribute effectively to the pursuit of the objective of full, productive and freely chosen employment "within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy", in accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention.

4. The Committee notes the information on labour market policy measures provided in response to its direct request. It notes that the Supreme Coordination Board for Employment Development is the interministerial body that decides on such measures and that the State Employment Agency is responsible for implementing them. It notes that the latter is being reorganized and modernized, inter alia, in the context of the World Bank project on employment and training. It asks the Government to indicate in its next report the progress made in this area. Furthermore, the Committee hopes that the setting up, with ILO assistance, of a labour market information system (IPES) will shortly give the Government access to the reliable and up-to-date statistics that are essential to the choice and implementation of employment policies. It would again be grateful if the Government would indicate the latest developments with regard to the planned legislation on unemployment insurance and employment protection.

5. Lastly, the Committee observes that the Government's report does not state whether any consultations were held with the social partners during the reporting period (except as regards the planned legislation mentioned above) on employment policies. It recalls that under Article 3 of the Convention representatives of all persons affected by the measures to be taken must be consulted "with a view to taking fully into account their experience and views and securing their full cooperation in formulating and enlisting support for such policies". The Committee points out that such consultations should include, in addition to representatives of employers and workers, representatives of other important sectors of the active population such as the rural and informal sectors. It asks the Government to provide full information in its next report on the effect given to this essential provision of the Convention. The Committee also refers to its comments on the application of the Employment Service Convention (No. 88), 1948, where it notes the observations made by the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TURK-IS), alleging that employers' and workers' organizations have not been consulted on the organization and running of the employment service and, more generally, that there is no active employment policy.