Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2005, published 95th ILC session (2006)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Cuba (Ratification: 1971)

1. Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. The Committee notes the Government’s report for the period ending in May 2005 in which it provides a copy of the General Industrial Relations Regulations (No. 8/2005 dated 1 March 2005), which endorse full employment and freedom of choice of employment as the principles governing employment policy. The Government indicates that new and significant measures have been taken for the development and extension of social programmes, establishing education as a new element of employment. Emphasis has been placed on programmes for the overall development of young persons and for the mobility of workers who have lost their jobs as a result of the restructuring of the sugar industry. The new strategy for the consolidation of full employment focuses on a continued and progressive decrease in youth unemployment, guaranteed jobs for all persons leaving educational institutions and prisons, the extension of alternative forms of employment for women and the vocational integration of all persons with disabilities who require it. The Committee requests that the Government provide information in its next report on the results achieved by the above programmes in terms of the creation of productive employment.

2. The Government indicates that, by the end of 2004, the unemployment rate had fallen to 1.9 per cent and that it is seeking to create another 150,000 jobs in 2005, continuing the trend, first noted by the Committee in its direct request of 2003, for the unemployment rate to fall. The Committee welcomes this information and once again requests the Government to provide updated data in its next report on the situation, level and trends of employment and underemployment, with an indication of the extent to which they affect particular categories of workers, such as women, young persons and workers in the State sector. In this respect, the Committee notes that self-employed work continues to supplement public employment and that at the end of 2004 there were 166,700 self-employed workers. The Committee reiterates the value of continuing to be provided with up-to-date information on the contribution of self-employed work to the achievement of the objectives of the Convention.

Part V of the report form. The Government indicates that it is maintaining contacts with the ILO Area Office to continue the exchange of experience with employment statistics. The Committee once again expresses interest in being informed of the manner in which labour statistics have been used in the formulation of employment policy measures, within the meaning of Article 2 of the Convention. Please also provide information on any contribution that the Office has been able to make in relation to declaring and pursuing an active employment policy.