Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2002, published 91st ILC session (2003)

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

1. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes the detailed information sent by the Government in September 2002. In a persistently unfavourable context for job creation (with registered unemployment increasing from 8.5 to 9.3 per cent in 2001 and underemployment from 45.5 to 46.4 per cent in Metropolitan Lima), the Committee notes from the comprehensive information provided the various programmes being implemented by the Government including an evaluation of their impact. According to this information, the Action for Youth Programme has enabled more than 2,000 workers to be placed in jobs in the space of two years. In 2002, the Self-employment and Micro-enterprises Programme has generated 7,084 jobs. The Women’s Employment Consolidation Programme (PROFECE) which has brought together a total of 13,664 members of "labour supply groups" (GOOLS) and enterprises in search of employees with a view to assisting women with few resources to find jobs. These activities have allowed more than 28,000 temporary jobs to be created and has enabled women workers to be trained in technical courses on production and management. The urban work programme A trabajar urbano is intended to generate temporary jobs for the unemployed in urban areas, particularly people living in poverty or extreme poverty (more than 70,000 four-month temporary jobs are expected in 2002). A rural employment programme A trabajar rural has also been established with financing from the Compensation and Social Development Fund. The Committee notes with interest the information on the activities at municipal level to develop local economies. The Committee notes that the Government has received technical assistance from the Office in devising and implementing programmes for the creation of productive employment. The Committee recalls that the Convention requires that the Government declare and pursue, as a major goal, an active policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment. The policy must be decided on and kept under review in coordination with a social policy (Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention). Accordingly, the Committee asks the Government to indicate in its next report how account has been taken of the impact on employment of the measures taken to promote economic development (investment policy, budgetary and monetary policy, trade policy and prices, incomes and wages policy). The Committee would also be grateful to receive an evaluation of the results achieved by the various programmes, as this would assist in determining how to overcome difficulties in attaining the objectives of full and productive employment established in the Convention.

2. Since 1998, the Committee has been asking the Government to send information on the impact on employment of the privatization and restructuring of the telecommunications sector. The Committee notes in this connection the new observations received in July 2002 from the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), which were sent to the Government in August 2002. The WFTU cites dismissals by a telephone company which have allegedly made the unemployment and social problems in Peru more acute. The Committee notes the information sent by the Government in its report suggesting that the privatization of the telecommunications sector has allowed employment to rise and that it is predicted that a considerable number of jobs will be created in the medium term. The Committee points out that where privatization that might lead to dismissals is undertaken, account should be taken of the instruments on termination of employment adopted by the Conference in 1982 which aim to achieve a balance between protection of the worker in the event of redundancy and the necessary flexibility of the labour market (see General Survey on protection against unjustified dismissal, 1995). Regarding Convention No. 122, the Committee has observed that a wider dialogue in civil society is one of the linchpins of sustainable economic growth in an era of globalization of markets. An essential element in successfully opening economies is the minimization of the risks that some economic policy measures may entail for certain categories of workers (see paragraphs 52 and 53, General Report, 2000). Accordingly, the Committee again draws attention to the importance of the consultations required by Article 3 of the Convention which requires consultations of the representatives of all persons affected by 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". The Committee trusts that the consultations on employment policy will lead to positive outcomes for the workers affected by the changes in the economy and that in its next report the Government will provide up-to-date information on the employment situation in the telecommunications sector.

3. The Committee recalls that in its previous comments it already pointed out that, with most of the economically active population being in the informal and rural sectors, the consultations on employment policy ought necessarily to include representatives from those sectors. The Committee requests that the Government provide specific information in its next report on the consultations held in connection with employment policy with representatives of both the formal and the informal sectors of the labour market.