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

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Greece (Ratification: 1984)

1. The Committee notes the Government's report for the period ending June 1992 and the information contained therein in answer to its previous direct request. According to the information provided by the Government and to OECD data, the unemployment rate continued to increase during the period, reaching 9.2 per cent in 1992, compared to 7.6 per cent in 1990. The disparities in the distribution of unemployment became even more marked, in that the increase was greatest among categories of workers whose unemployment rate was already the highest, such as women and young people under 25, while the deterioration was most marked in urban areas. Furthermore, long-term unemployment accounts for more than 50 per cent of total unemployment. The Committee observes that since the end of the reporting period the labour market situation has continued to deteriorate in the context of the structural adjustment policy being implemented since 1991: according to OECD estimates, the unemployment rate reached 10 per cent in 1993. The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide detailed statistics on the level and trends of the active population, employment, underemployment and unemployment in the various sectors of activity and for the different categories of the population.

2. The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government on the various employment promotion measures. It notes in particular that the programmes to subsidize the creation of new jobs or self-employment for young people and the long-term unemployed are being pursued, as is the programme for the rehabilitation of the disabled. It also notes the information on the OAED rapid vocational training programme. It asks the Government to continue to provide information on the above measures indicating the results obtained in terms of the long-term integration of those concerned in the labour market.

3. The Committee notes the information contained in the report on the different measures for intervening in the labour market, and the arrangements made by the public administration with regard to the employment and training of its own agents. It notes, however, from the OECD and EC Commission surveys two trends on which it would appreciate information in the next report: the relatively high share of "passive" public expenditure in the labour market policy budget (approximately two-thirds of the total in 1991) and the substantial reduction, implemented or planned, of the strength of the public sector in the broad sense of the term, as a result of restructuring and privatization. The Committee recalls that the pursuit of an active employment policy within the meaning of the Convention extends to other aspects of economic and social policy likely to have an effect on employment. The Committee refers in this connection to its previous direct request and to the questions in the report form, and trusts that the next report will contain the information required on general and sectoral development policies and how they contribute, within the framework of the coordinated economic and social policy, to achieving employment objectives (Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention). Please indicate in particular how their effects on employment were taken into consideration when the Medium-Term Adjustment Programme for 1991-93 and the convergence programme for 1993-98 were prepared.

4. The Committee notes the indication that the decisions of the Administrative Council of the OAED concerning the programmes for subsidizing employment and training are taken in consultation with representatives of the employers' and workers' organizations. It would be grateful if the Government would state the procedure adopted for this purpose. More generally, it again asks the Government to provide complete information on the way in which representatives of the persons affected are consulted on employment policies within the meaning of the Convention, particularly within the framework of the implementation of the stabilization and structural reform programme with a view to "securing their full cooperation and enlisting support for such policies", in accordance with Article 3 of the Convention.