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

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

1. The Committee notes the Government's report for the period ending June 1994 and the information provided in writing and orally by the Government to the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards at the June 1994 Session of the Conference, as well as the subsequent discussion. However, it notes that the report is mainly confined to repeating the information supplied to the Conference and that it does not provide the "relevant responses" promised by the Government representative.

2. The Government refers in its report to a statement by the Minister of Labour that the increased production capacity of the agricultural, mining and manufacturing sectors had resulted in the creation of 180,000 jobs during the first half of 1994 (the objective was 500,000 by end of 1994). According to the information available to the ILO, the jobs that have been created concern mainly unskilled workers in the informal sector. They offer fewer opportunities to skilled workers seeking to find work in the modern sectors of the economy and are generally in small enterprises in which social protection is limited (particularly with regard to trade union rights and social security). Measures to balance the budget and the privatizations carried out reduced the budget deficit to 1.4 per cent of GDP in 1993, compared with 4.5 per cent in 1990, and explain why all the jobs created in the modern sectors of the economy during the reporting period were in the private sector. However, despite the economic recovery, the urban unemployment rate has remained at around 10 per cent due to the difference between the changing rates of the supply and demand for labour. Moreover, it would appear to be the rapid growth of the informal sector (in which over 40 per cent of the active population works) that has made it possible to avoid a substantial increase in unemployment.

3. The Government also provided the Conference Committee with information on the various programmes undertaken to promote the vocational training of young persons, including through pre-vocational internship programmes, self-employment and microenterprises. The Government has endeavoured to implement a programme to develop public employment services and vocational training at the regional level, although it is still encountering difficulties in this respect. The Committee also notes the objections raised during the discussion in the Conference Committee against the measures which have been taken, particularly with regard to young persons, within the context of the Employment Promotion Act; it was emphasized that this system did not create jobs, but allowed enterprises to downgrade workers to subsidiary jobs, without employment stability, at a lower cost and without any protection.

4. The Committee notes that the achievement of the objectives of the Convention, namely the promotion of full, productive and freely chosen employment, continues to give rise to particular difficulties. With reference to its previous observation, it recalls the importance that it attaches to promoting a fair distribution of the social costs and benefits of structural adjustment in order to ensure the effectiveness of employment policy, and notes that this was also emphasized by the Conference Committee. It also stresses the idea expressed at the Conference that the objectives of full employment and social protection need not be contradictory. The Committee hopes that the next report will contain the information required under the report form on the results obtained in terms of employment by overall and sectoral development policies (investment policy; fiscal and monetary policies; trade policy; prices, incomes and wages policies). Furthermore, it trusts that the Government will be in a position to supply further information on the various employment promotion programmes undertaken, with an indication of the extent to which they have made it possible for the principal categories of workers concerned, such as women, young people seeking their first job and informal sector workers, to find lasting employment. Please also indicate whether the objectives of government plans to promote employment in metropolitan Lima and the other regions of the country have been or are being achieved.

5. The Committee notes the statement by the Minister of Labour transmitted with the Government's report relating to the establishment of a National Commission on Employment and Wage Statistics, which should receive the technical support of the ILO. Furthermore, measures were announced at the Conference to extend the geographical scope of household surveys. The Committee hopes that the Government will be able to provide more detailed information in future reports on the situation, level and trends of employment, unemployment and underemployment for the whole of the country and all sectors. It would also be grateful if the Government would indicate the action taken in relation to any ILO technical cooperation in these fields, especially with a view to facilitating the application of the Convention.

6. The Committee notes the Government's indication that the opinion of the persons concerned is sought when evaluating programmes undertaken in the context of employment policy and proposing necessary measures. As emphasized by the Conference Committee, the Committee of Experts wishes to recall the crucial importance of the consultation of national employers' and workers' organizations envisaged in Article 3 of the Convention in order to deal with economic and social problems, as well as for the declaration and application, "as a major goal", of an active employment policy, "within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy". With reference to its previous comments and the concern expressed in this respect by several workers' organizations, as well as the Committee's observation this year on the Employment Service Convention, 1948 (No. 88), the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide any relevant information on the consultations held with the representatives of all the persons affected, such as the representatives of employers' and workers' organizations and the representatives of workers in the rural and informal sectors, with a view to giving full effect to this essential provision of the Convention, with an indication of the manner in which their experience and views have been taken into account in order to obtain their full collaboration in formulating employment policy measures and securing support for these measures.