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

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Belarus (Ratification: 1968)

1. The Committee notes the Government's report for the period ending June 1994 and the information provided in reply to its previous request. It also notes the relevant information provided by the Government in its 1994 report on Convention No. 111.

2. The Committee notes with interest article 41 of the Constitution of 15 March 1994, which confirms that it is the responsibility of the State to ensure the conditions for the full employment of the population and to guarantee free choice of employment.

3. The statistics provided show that registered unemployment affected around 1.5 per cent of the active population at the end of 1993. However, the Government emphasizes the very high rate of underemployment, which is still poorly reflected in the statistics. The underutilization of the productive capacity of many enterprises is resulting in their employees being laid off for technical reasons or sent on unpaid leave for an indeterminate period. The Committee notes that the Government has adopted measures to compile and analyse statistics which should enable it to gain a better knowledge of the characteristics and extent of the phenomenon of underemployment. The Government also states that job-seekers are encountering increasing difficulty in finding employment due to the rapid decline in the demand for labour, and that the average period of unemployment is increasing. The number of unfilled vacancies and the graduate share of total unemployment also bear witness to serious imbalances in the structures for the supply and demand for labour. The proportion of total unemployment accounted for by women (two-thirds) is, according to the Government, a result of the lower level of protection that they enjoy in practice in respect of termination of employment for economic reasons.

4. Faced with this deterioration in the employment situation, the Government states that it has adopted significant measures to develop and modernize public employment services and adapt them to the needs of the various categories of job-seekers. With regard to measures to promote the employment of women, the Committee refers to its request for information under Convention No. 111. The Committee also notes the information concerning the measures adopted to improve the effectiveness of retraining for the unemployed. In view of the imbalance between the supply and demand for skills on the labour market, the Committee invites the Government to indicate whether measures have been taken or are envisaged to achieve a better coordination between education and training policies and prospective employment opportunities.

5. The Committee notes the series of measures intended to combat the rise in unemployment and remedy the imbalances on the labour market. It also notes the statement that the employment policy emphasizes the promotion of small enterprises and self-employment and requests the Government to describe the measures adopted to this effect. In this respect, the Committee is bound to recall that under the terms of the Convention, an active employment policy is not confined to labour market measures, but has to be pursued "within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy". With reference to its previous request, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate in its next report the manner in which the objective of full, productive and freely-chosen employment is taken into account in the formulation and implementation of structural reforms designed to achieve the transition to a market economy. Please indicate in particular how policies in such fields as investment, prices, incomes and wages, and international trade are coordinated with employment policy.

6. With reference to its previous request, in which it noted that the participation of organizations of employers in consultations on the formulation and implementation of employment policy was not guaranteed, the Committee notes that this failing has been brought to the attention of the legislator who should resolve it when preparing the new Labour Code, now that representative organizations of employers have been established. It requests the Government to supply full information on the manner in which the new provisions ensure in practice the consultation of the representatives of all the persons concerned by employment policy measures, and particularly the representatives of employers and workers, in accordance with Article 3 of the Convention.

7. Finally, the Committee notes the reference in the Government's report to the technical assistance of the ILO in the field of the promotion of small enterprises and self-employment. The Committee recalls the value in this respect of the "Conclusions concerning the promotion of self-employment", adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 1990, and would be grateful if the Government would supply any relevant information on the action taken as a result (Part V of the report form).