Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2001, published 90th ILC session (2002)

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

The Committee notes the Government’s report, received in September 2000, which refers briefly to the questions raised in the observation of 1999.

1. Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. The Committee notes that, in what was a particularly unstable period in political terms, metropolitan Lima maintained a registered unemployment rate of 9.2 per cent in 1999 (8.5 per cent in 2000) while the informal sector continued to account for 54 per cent of urban employment. Economic growth of 3.1 per cent in 2000 was not sufficient to improve the employment situation. In its report, the Government enumerates its employment programmes: the Women’s Employment Consolidation Programme (PROFECE), which has provided a total of 11,060 temporary jobs (between August 1999 and July 2000); the Self-Employment and Micro-enterprise Programme (PRODAME) to encourage the establishment of small and micro-enterprises with a view to their gaining access to the economic and financial resources of the formal sector; and the PROEMPLEO national network and CIL centres. The Committee reiterates the request it made to the Government in its observation of 1998 to provide, in its next report, information on the impact of measures taken under the various employment programmes, including particulars of the situation, level and trends of employment, unemployment and underemployment in the rural areas as well as the urban sectors. Please state in particular how the employment policy objectives are related to other economic and social objectives.

2. The Committee refers to point 4 of its observation of 1998. It would be grateful if the Government would explain how its programmes contribute effectively to the creation of sustainable new jobs, particularly for young people wishing to enter the labour market, while ensuring that measures for the vocational training of young people do not depart from the objective of the effective and lasting integration of those concerned in appropriate employment.

3. Article 3. The Government indicates in its report that the Committee for the Promotion of Private Investment (COPRI) has been asked to supply information on how account was taken of the implications for employment of the privatization and restructuring of the telecommunications sector. The Committee hopes to receive such information and emphasizes the importance of consulting the social partners on measures to be adopted for the promotion of employment. The Committee again highlights the importance of the consultations required by Article 3 of the Convention under which the representatives of all persons affected must be consulted regarding employment policy, "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". Since most of the economically active population is to be found in the informal and rural sectors, the consultations on employment policy should necessarily include representatives of those sectors. The Committee hopes that in its next report the Government will be in a position to provide information on the progress made regarding the consultations required by this provision of the Convention, as regards the informal sector as well as the formal sector of the labour market.

4. The Committee trusts that in 2002 the Government will submit a detailed report on the application of the Convention containing all the information required by the report form for each provision of the Convention, including information in response to the matters raised in this direct request and, in general, on how the Government has taken account of the need to promote decent work.