Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1995, published 83rd ILC session (1996)

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

1. The Committee notes the Government's report for the period ending June 1994. Supplemented by information from the OECD, the data provided by the Government show a continued rise in the unemployment rate from the previous period. The rate of unemployment, which was 8.7 per cent in 1992, rose to 9.7 per cent in 1993 and 9.6 per cent in 1994. According to the most recent OECD estimates, it was to rise further in 1995 to nearly 10 per cent. Furthermore, the Government confirms that young persons under 25 years of age (who account for over 40 per cent of total unemployment) and women are the categories of the population most affected. Over half of unemployed persons have been without a job for more than one year and the urban unemployment rate, which has risen once again, is triple the rural unemployment rate. The level and structure of unemployment remain a matter of particular concern.

2. The Government provides new information in its report on the labour market policy measures that it is implementing and their scope. The Committee notes the particular importance of programmes of subsidies for the creation of jobs, for self-employment and for the mobility of the workforce. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supplement the information provided on the number of beneficiaries of these programmes with information on the results achieved in terms of long-term integration into employment. The Committee notes in this respect that an evaluation of the principal employment and training programmes has been requested by the Manpower Employment Organization (OAED). The Committee requests the Government to supply the main findings of this evaluation as soon as they are available.

3. The Committee, which is grateful for the information supplied, is nevertheless bound to recall that an active employment policy in the meaning of the Convention cannot be confined to labour market measures. It regrets in this respect that the report does not contain the information that has been requested on several occasions on the manner in which overall and sectoral development policies contribute to the pursuance of employment objectives "in the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy", in accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. The Committee trusts that the Government's next report will contain full information, in reply to the questions in the report form approved by the Governing Body, on the measures adopted in the fields of investment policy, budgetary and monetary policies, trade policy, prices, incomes and wages policies, industrial and regional development policies, and education and training policies, with a view to the promotion, "as a major goal", of full, productive and freely chosen employment. Furthermore, it once again requests the Government to supply information on the implementation of the convergence programme (1994-99) and its expected impact on employment.

4. Finally, the Committee notes that the report does not supply new information on the consultation of the representatives of the persons affected, and in particular of representatives of employers and workers, who only seem to be associated with the Administrative Council of the OAED. With reference once again to its previous requests, the Committee recalls that the consultation of the persons affected required by Article 3 of the Convention should be extended to all economic policy measures which have an impact on employment, "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". It hopes that the Government will soon be in a position to report progress in the application of this fundamental provision of the Convention.