Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1995, published 82nd ILC session (1995)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Russian Federation (Ratification: 1967)

1. The Committee notes with interest the Government's report covering the period ending in June 1994, which contains useful information on recent developments in employment, unemployment and underemployment, and on employment policy measures implemented.

2. The Government indicates in its report that the registered unemployment rate was an estimated 1.6 per cent at the end of the period, whereas the various forms of underemployment affected approximately 6.5 per cent of the active population. It emphasizes that employment problems affect particularly the less developed regions and the regions that are especially hard hit by the crisis because of their industrial specialization. According to the Government, the employment situation is likely to rapidly deteriorate further, in view of forthcoming redundancies and the growth of the active population. By the end of 1994 there will be an estimated 3 million registered unemployed (i.e. a registered unemployment rate of approximately 4 per cent), more than 6 million people (i.e. almost 9 per cent of the active population) unable to find work owing to the imbalance between labour supply and demand, while underemployment could affect between 5 and 8 million people. The Committee has also noted data in a survey carried out in 1994 by the competent department of the ILO which show an estimated suppressed unemployment rate in industry of 35.2 per cent. For its part, the Russian Institute for Employment Problems estimates surplus employment at 42.5 per cent of total employment. The Committee hopes that in its next report the Government will be able to state that there has been further progress in the compilation and analysis of statistical data on the situation, level and trends in employment, unemployment and underemployment, in the country as a whole and at the regional level, in the various sectors of economic activity and for the different categories of the active population, particularly young people, women, elderly workers and workers with disabilities.

3. The Government describes the measures implemented to deal with the deteriorating employment situation. The Committee notes that public employment services are paying particular attention to the categories of people with the greatest difficulty in finding lasting employment, particularly young people. With regard to special measures for women and persons with disabilities, the Committee invites the Government to provide detailed information in reply to its comments on the application of Conventions Nos. 111 and 159. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate whether the planned programme to subsidize employers hiring workers proposed by employment services has been implemented. Please send any available evaluation of how the programme for temporary employment and socially useful work contributes to the effective and lasting integration of the beneficiaries in employment. Please continue to provide information on measures to promote self-employment and to create small and medium-sized enterprises. The Committee notes with interest the attention paid to developing vocational guidance and training. Please continue to provide information on activities in this area, indicating in particular the results obtained by vocational retraining measures. Lastly, as regards the social protection of workers and assistance for the unemployed, the Committee notes the measures taken or under consideration; it notes that legislation is being prepared on the bankruptcy of enterprises. Please continue to provide information on developments in these matters as far as they relate to the employment policy within the meaning of the Convention.

4. The Committee appreciates the Government's efforts to improve the quality of the information supplied. However, it recalls that an active employment policy within the meaning of the Convention must not be confined to labour market measures, but must be part of "a coordinated economic and social policy" (Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention). With reference to its previous direct request, the Committee would be grateful if, in its next report, the Government would state how account is taken of the objective of full, productive and freely chosen employment in the planning and implementation of the structural reforms for the transition to a market economy. Please indicate, in particular, how measures in the area of investment policy, monetary and budgetary policy, prices and incomes policy and foreign trade policy are coordinated with the employment policy.

5. With further reference to its previous request, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide detailed information on how consultation on employment policies is ensured with the representatives of the persons affected and, in particular, representatives of employers and workers, in accordance with Article 3. It recalls in this connection that such consultations should cover all aspects of economic policy that affect employment. The Committee cannot overstress the importance it attaches to full effect being given to this essential provision of the Convention, particularly in the difficult context of the present far-reaching changes in the structures of the economy and the labour market.

6. Lastly, the Committee notes that the report refers to the ILO's advisory or technical cooperation activities, and asks the Government to provide information on any action taken as a result of these activities (Part V of the report form).