Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

Labour Statistics Convention, 1985 (No. 160) - Mauritius (Ratification: 1994)

The Committee notes the Government's report as well as the attached information, concerning in particular the application of Article 13 of the Convention. It requests the Government to supply further information on the following points.

Article 3 of the Convention. The Committee notes that the Government's report confirms that no consultation is carried out with representative organizations of employers and workers in respect of the current statistics covered by Articles 7 to 10 and 13 to 15, while it refers again to the role of the Consumer Price Index Advisory Committee. The Committee again draws the Government's attention to the obligation under Article 3 to consult the representative organizations of workers and employers. It asks the Government to indicate any measures taken or envisaged to initiate consultation with representative organizations of employers and workers when the concepts, definitions and methodology used in respect of these current statistics covered by Articles 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14 and 15 are designed or revised.

Article 7. As regards the results of the labour force survey, the Committee notes that no data on economically active population, employment and unemployment have been received at the ILO since the results of the first survey conducted in 1995 were transmitted. As it is not known whether this is due to the labour force survey being suspended or to a problem with the communication of the results to the ILO, the Committee asks the Government to state whether or not this survey is still conducted; if it is, the Committee draws the Government's attention to the obligations under Article 5 regarding the communication of data to the ILO.

Article 8. The Committee asks the Government to state whether a new population census is planned, and if so, when it will take place.

Article 9. Further to its previous request, the Committee notes that the reasons given for not collecting data on hours of work and average earnings by sex through the establishment survey are still valid (the fear of the additional response burden and decrease in response rate). It asks the Government to keep the Office informed of any future developments in this field.

The Committee notes that a Continuous Multipurpose Household Survey will be conducted for the first time in 1999 and that the Central Statistical Office (CSO) expects to derive statistics of average earnings and hours of work by sex from this survey. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the development of this survey.

Article 10. The Committee notes that data on the distribution of employees by levels of earnings, hours of work and sex, and on the distribution of the employed population by hours of work, industry, occupation and sex, are derived from the labour force survey. It notes that, according to the Government's report, statistics on the composition of earnings and hours of work are also available but that they do not, however, appear to be published. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide information with regard to the publication of statistics on the composition of earnings and hours of work by main components.

The Committee further notes that it is expected that the Continuous Multipurpose Household Survey referred to above will provide for the statistics referred to under this Article. The remark made under Article 9 about this survey also applies to Article 10.

Article 12. The Committee again requests the Government to communicate to the ILO the monthly consumer price indices (all items and food group) in accordance with Article 5, as well as detailed methodological information concerning the new CPI series (in accordance with Article 6).

Article 14. Further to its previous request, the Committee notes the information provided in the report and further asks the Government to provide the following information about the statistics on occupational injuries: (i) the coverage of the system of notification of occupational injuries to the Ministry of Labour and Industrial Relations under section 63 of the Occupational Health and Welfare Act, 1998, in particular the types of workers and economic activities covered; (ii) the publication in which the statistics compiled through the new notification system will appear (in accordance with Article 5); (iii) the steps the Government proposes to take, if any, to compile statistics of occupational injuries covering self-employed workers; (iv) the steps the Government proposes to take, if any, to collect and publish statistics of work time lost because of occupational injuries. The Committee would also draw attention to the desirability of coordinating the statistics compiled by the different organizations, so as to enhance their usefulness.

Concerning the statistics of occupational diseases, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on: (i) the guidelines followed for the compilation of these statistics (in accordance with Article 2); and (ii) the methods used to compile these statistics (in accordance with Article 6).

Article 15. The Committee requests the Government to provide the following information: (i) the dates when the Ministry of Labour and Industrial Relations intends to publish its annual reports from 1987 onwards (in accordance with Article 5); and (ii) the name and reference of the publication, if any, containing the methodology used to compile the statistics of strikes and lock-outs (in accordance with Article 6).

Article 16. Recalling that the Government did not accept the obligations of Article 11, the Committee is making the following remarks on it for the purpose of clarifying the extent to which effect is already given to the provisions. The Committee notes that statistics of labour cost are not compiled as such in Mauritius, but that estimates of average compensation of employees per employee and per year (a proxy to labour cost) are compiled on the basis of the Annual Census of Industrial Production (which covers all industrial establishments with ten or more persons engaged) and the five-yearly Census of Economic Activities which covers all non-agricultural activities. The Government's report indicates that it is envisaged to carry out the Census of Economic Activities at shorter intervals. The Committee would be grateful to the Government for continuing to supply information on the position of its law and practice and any future developments concerning statistics of labour cost, in accordance with Article 16(4).