Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Mongolia (Ratification: 1976)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its 2006 direct request, which read as follows:

1. The Committee notes the information provided in the Government’s report received in July 2005 which refers to activities promoted and implemented through 1999 and 2000. The ILO Subregional Office in Bangkok has also brought to the Committee’s attention additional information concerning the application of the Convention. The Committee hopes that the Government will provide, in its next report, comprehensive and updated information on its active employment policies for examination by the Committee at its next session regarding the following points.

2. Implementation of an active employment policy. The Committee understands that within the framework of the employment support policy and after the approval of the Employment Promotion Law in 2001 and the National Employment Promotion Programme in 2002, the Government launched in 2005 a National Plan of Action on Decent Work. The Committee notes from the information provided by the Government that other programmes have been initiated, i.e. the National Programme on Unemployment Reduction (1996–2010), the National Programme on the Promotion of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, the Programme for the Promotion of Cooperatives, the National Programme for Technical and Vocational Education, the Green Revolution, the Provision of Livestock to the Rural Population, the National Action Programme to Improve Living Standards for Women, the Sustainable Development of Mongolia – 21st Century Programme. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on how these programmes and other employment policy measures have been implemented and how successful they have been in promoting productive employment in relation to the objectives of poverty reduction strategies.

3. The Committee notes the Government’s concern over the fact that despite the clear objectives defined in the employment policy, there has been no substantial improvement in unemployment due to the weak capacity of the economy and its adverse impact on job creation and national industrial development. The Government further reports that the public employment services have been the main part of employment promotion activities, but that the beneficiaries have been mostly from urban populations. It recognizes the difficulty involving the rural unemployed population in employment promotion activities. The Committee notes that the Central Employment Regulation Office (CERO) has again been reorganized as the Labour and Social Welfare Services Agency (LSWSA). The Committee understands that, in 2002, a Rural Development Strategy was drafted and that, in November 2005, a Technical Meeting on Promoting Employment Opportunities in Rural Mongolia was held in which an integrated strategy for local economic development and rural employment promotion was endorsed by public authorities and the social partners. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in its next report on the implementation of rural employment policies and programmes, and make available any information on other measures it has taken to promote employment and improve the quantity and quality of employment opportunities in rural areas, including data on how government programmes are helping in the aimags where the unemployment rate is higher. Please include information on measures aimed at addressing issues related to providing decent work and “good jobs” with adequate earnings in addition to finding productive employment opportunities for the unemployed and for the underemployed (Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention).

4. Collection and use of employment data. The Committee notes that, with the support of the European Union Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States (TACIS), progress was made in developing labour market information systems. The Committee again asks the Government to provide full and detailed statistical data on the situation and trends of the active population, employment, unemployment and underemployment disaggregated by sector, age, sex and skill level, and to indicate how these data are being used to prioritize and formulate employment policies (Article 1, paragraph 2, and Article 2(a)).

5. Labour market and training policies. The Government indicates in its report that the percentage of unskilled people and youth among the unemployed shows the pressing need for more vocational training. The Committee understands that public and private training institutions are encountering difficulties in providing the level of skills training needed for employment. Please indicate what measures are being envisaged to ensure that the current disparity between the training provided by the existing training institutions and the actual workplace skill requirements is reduced, and that the skills acquired through such training meet the demands of the labour market.

6. Measures to promote productive employment for specific categories of workers. (a). Workers in the informal economy. The Committee notes that initiatives have been taken by the local authorities, with the assistance of the Office, to address the issue of the rapid growth of the informal economy. A National Conference on the Informal Economy was convened and drafted a strategy for the informal economy in Mongolia. The Committee asks the Government to provide information in its next report on the measures envisaged and implemented to address the increasing informal employment, including any promotional measures adopted to enable and empower vulnerable groups of the informal economy to participate in economic development.

(b). Migrant workers seeking employment abroad. The Committee notes that efforts have been made to improve labour migration policy and a law on sending workers abroad and employing foreign workers was passed in 2001. It asks the Government to provide information on the implementation of that law, including data on other steps taken within the framework of an active employment policy to prevent abuse in the recruitment of labour (see Part X of the Employment Policy (Supplementary Provisions) Recommendation, 1984 (No. 169)).

7. Consultation with the persons affected. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information in its next report on the tripartite consultations held on the formulation, implementation and monitoring of the current employment policies and outcomes, including the roles of the National Tripartite Committee on Social and Labour Consensus, and the National Tripartite Board set up under the Employment Promotion Law. The Committee also requests information on how the existing national social dialogue takes into account the promotion of the private sector as the driving force behind economic growth (Article 3).