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

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Romania (Ratification: 1973)

The Committee notes the Government's report for the period ending June 1992. It notes, however, that the new information supplied in this report only replies partially to the questions raised in its previous request. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply full information in its next report in reply to each of the questions set out in the report form in order to enable it to fully assess the manner in which effect is given to the provisions of the Convention. In particular, it requests the Government to refer to the following points:

1. The Committee notes the figures provided by the Government concerning employment and unemployment. Supplemented by the figures contained in its 1993 report on the application of Convention No. 88 and by the statistics published by the ILO, this information confirms the decline in the general level of employment and the rapid and continued increase in unemployment. The rate of registered unemployment, which was around 3 per cent at the end of 1991, had risen to 6.9 per cent in August 1992 and 8.8 per cent in August 1993. Around 60 per cent of the unemployed are women, and 40 per cent are young persons under 25 years of age. The information also shows that unemployment affects in particular skilled workers belonging to the most active age groups. The Committee requests the Government to supply statistics which are as detailed as possible in its next report on the level and trends of employment, underemployment and unemployment throughout the country and in the various regions, by sector of the economy, sex and age. Please describe the measures which have been taken or are envisaged to compile and analyse the appropriate statistical data.

2. The Committee notes the brief information supplied concerning the functions of the employment services and a number of measures which have been taken to combat unemployment. It would be grateful if the Government would continue to supply all available information in its next report on the number and nature of the cases dealt with by the employment services. The Committee also notes that an ILO technical cooperation project to reorganize and strengthen the employment services is currently being implemented. Please indicate the action taken as a result of this project (Part V of the report form). Please state the extent to which subsidies provided to enterprises for the recruitment of young graduates result in the lasting integration of the persons concerned in employment, and supply fuller information on the measures which have been taken or are envisaged relating to training that is adapted to the labour market. More generally, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate the manner in which education and training policies are coordinated with prospective employment opportunities. The Committee notes Act No. 1/1991 respecting social protection and the vocational reintegration of the unemployed, which was supplied at its request, and would also be grateful if the Government would supply information on the effect given to the measures which are envisaged, particularly as regards the establishment and operation of training and retraining centres (section 27 of the Act).

3. The Committee notes that the report deals almost exclusively with measures directly related to the management of the labour market. It recalls that an active employment policy in the sense of Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention presupposes that the objectives of full, productive and freely chosen employment are taken into consideration when adopting and implementing measures relating to other aspects of economic and social policy. In this respect, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply the information requested previously concerning the measures taken to organize the transition towards a market economy, particularly as regards privatization, as well as in the fields of financial and monetary policy and prices and wages policy, with an indication of the manner in which their effect on employment is taken into account.

4. The Committee regrets to note that the Government has not responded to its request for information on the effect given to Article 3 of the Convention. It is bound to emphasize the particular importance which it attaches to full effect being given to this essential provision of the Convention, particularly in a context of the far-reaching transformation of economic structures. The Committee trusts that the Government will supply full information in its next report on the procedures adopted to ensure that the representatives of the persons affected by employment policies, and in particular representatives of employers and workers, are 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".