Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

Labour Statistics Convention, 1985 (No. 160) - Guatemala (Ratification: 1993)

The Committee notes the updated information on the application of the Convention contained in the Government’s report for the period ending 1 September 2004. It also notes the partial replies to its previous comments. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide further information on the following points.

Article 7 of the Convention. Although there is no specific information in the report on the economically active population, employment and unemployment, some summary data on employment and unemployment, derived from a labour force survey (LFS), are available for 2000 and 2002 and will be published in the 2004 edition of the Yearbook of Labour Statistics and disseminated on the ILO’s statistical web site.

The latest data on employment derived from official estimates and on registered unemployment, published in the 1999 Yearbook, relate to 1995. The Committee notes that the series on paid employment by economic activity, based on insurance records, was updated in 2003 using tables from the Boletin Estadistica, as disseminated on the web site of the Banco de Guatemala.

The Committee draws the Government’s attention to the obligations deriving from Articles 5 and 6 and asks it to update these series by replying to the questionnaires contained in the ILO Yearbook and to provide the relevant methodological information as well as the corresponding statistical publications.

The Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that all labour market statistics available at the national level are communicated to the ILO.

Article 8. Noting that the report contains no information on the population census, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would send to the ILO, as soon as practicable the data from the 2002 population census and the corresponding methodological data.

Article 9, paragraph 1. The Committee notes that statistics of average monthly earnings continue to be compiled on the basis of the annual reports submitted to the IGSS and that they cover all economic activities. It also notes with interest that the Ministry of Labour intends to exploit another source of information on earnings and hours of work, namely the Informe del Empleador, an annual publication prepared by employers. The Government is asked to keep the ILO informed of any developments in this field, and to communicate to the ILO the statistics of average earnings and hours paid for which can be derived from this source, disaggregated by sex, economic activity and other characteristics.

Article 9, paragraph 2. The Committee notes with interest that the Ministry of Labour intends to make use of the publication Informe del Empleador to compile statistics of average wage/salary rates and normal hours of work, in accordance with the requirements of this Article. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide information on any further developments in this field and communicate the relevant statistics as soon as feasible.

Article 10. The Committee notes with interest that the Ministry of Labour intends to make use of the publication Informe del Empleador to compile statistics on the wage structure and hours of work, and on the distribution of employees by level of earnings and hours of work. It asks the Government to keep the ILO informed of any developments in this field and to communicate the relevant statistics to the ILO as soon as feasible.

Article 12. Noting that the report does not provide any specific information on consumer price indices, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the obligations set out in Articles 5 and 6 and asks it to: (i) update these series by replying to the questionnaires in the ILO Yearbook; and (ii) provide methodological information on the new series (December 2000=100) or to provide the ILO with the title and reference of the publication, if any, which contains the detailed methodological description referred to in Article 6 (if any).

In addition, the Government is asked to supply regularly all items and food groups indices to the ILO.

Article 13. In response to the previous comments (2000), the Government refers to the publication entitled Encuesta Nacional de ingresos y gastos familiares ("National Survey of Household Income and Expenditure"), with an indication that the document is attached to the report. However, this document has not yet been received by the ILO. The Committee therefore once again asks the Government to: (i) indicate the particular standards and guidelines taken into consideration in the development of statistics of household expenditure (in accordance with Article 2); (ii) communicate the results of the latest survey to the ILO (Article 5); and (iii) communicate a detailed description of the sources, concepts, definitions and methodology used in collecting and compiling household income and expenditure statistics (Article 6) and to send the abovementioned missing document.

Article 14. The Committee notes with regret that no progress has been made since the last report in 1999 with respect to the application of Article 14(a), which seems to be only partially applied. It also notes that:

(a)  it is intended to try to improve the coverage of statistics on occupational injuries with the assistance  of the Ministry of Health and Social Assistance and access to its data;

(b)  it is intended to draw the attention of the Actuarial and Statistical Directorate of the IGSS to international standards and guidance so that they can be taken into account (Article 2);

(c)  up-to-date statistics on occupational injuries were provided with the report and it is intended to find out why statistics on fatal occupational injuries are not published (Article 5);and

(d)  no information is available with respect to statistics on occupational diseases.

The Government is asked to keep the ILO informed of the outcome of the measures that are planned in relation to statistics on occupational injuries, the extension of their coverage to the country as a whole and the account taken of international standards and guidelines (Article 2) and the publication of statistics on fatal occupational injuries (Article 5). The Government is also asked to communicate the statistics on occupational injuries regularly to the ILO (Article 5) and to keep the ILO informed of any plans it may have to compile and publish statistics on occupational diseases (Article 14(b)).

Article 15. Noting that this Article of the Convention is not fully applied, the Committee nevertheless welcomes the information provided concerning the number of strikes in 2003. It asks the Government to ensure that such statistics are communicated regularly to the ILO (Article 5).

The Committee asks the Government to indicate the international guidelines followed when establishing the statistical system (Article 2) and to keep the ILO informed of the provisions respecting the registration of strikes and lockouts by labour tribunals, as noted in the previous report, as well as any measures envisaged with a view to the collection of statistics on the number of workers involved and the amount of time not worked because of strikes and lockouts.