Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Dominican Republic (Ratification: 2001)

1. In its direct request of 2006, the Committee requested the Government to prepare a report containing detailed replies to all the points that had been raised, and reminded the Government that the drawing up of a report would enable the Government and the social partners to evaluate the way in which the objective of full productive employment established by the Convention could be achieved. The Committee observes that the report received in August 2007 only contains brief replies which do not allow an examination of the way in which this priority Convention is being applied.

2. Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Declaration of an active employment policy. The Government indicates that plans were laid between October 2004 and September 2007 for a new active employment policy, creating 345,777 new jobs, with 59,141 jobs created between October 2006 and April 2007. In its previous report, the Government mentioned two poverty reduction programmes (“Food First” and “Solidarity”), under the responsibility of the President of the Republic. According to data published by the ILO in Labour Overview 2007, the urban unemployment rate was still at 16.2 per cent in 2006, with the unemployed population comprised of 9.2 per cent men and 28.8 per cent women, and also nearly 32 per cent for young persons between 15 and 24 years of age. The Committee emphasizes the central role to be played by employment policy in economic, social and development policies for generating employment and reducing poverty. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide detailed information in its next report on the way in which an active policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment has been formulated. The Committee would like to analyse the results achieved in terms of the creation of lasting employment and the reduction of underemployment in the framework of a national employment policy. The Committee requests the Government to include up to date statistical data on the size and distribution of the workforce, and the nature and extent of unemployment, as an essential basic stage in the implementation of an active employment policy within the meaning of the Convention.

3. The Government indicates in its report that the Government Council has implemented an action plan for the active creation of jobs and increased productivity. The aim of the plan is to create 400,000 new jobs. The Committee therefore requests the Government once again to include in its next report a summary of the abovementioned action plan and of other programmes containing specific arrangements which are components of an active employment policy, in accordance with Article 1 of the Convention. The Committee requests information which will enable it to ascertain whether particular difficulties have been encountered in attaining the employment objectives established in the Government’s plans and programmes and the extent to which such difficulties have been overcome.

4. Article 1, paragraph 3, and Article 2. Coordination of employment policy with economic and social policy. In its report, the Government mentions the courses offered by the National Employment Service in 2007. It also refers to the holding of a workshop on national employment policy for young persons and women. The Committee requests the Government to provide further details of the way in which adequate coordination is established between the Secretariat of State for Labour, the Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance and the National Planning Office with a view to formulating and applying an active employment policy. In this regard, the Committee reiterates its interest in being informed of the manner in which employment objectives were taken into account when formulating the Government’s other economic and social objectives.

5. Article 3. Participation of the social partners in the formulation and application of policies. In the report received in August 2007, the Government refers to previous information. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the consultations held in the Labour Advisory Council on the formulation and implementation of an active employment policy. Please also provide information on the consultations held with representatives “of the persons affected by the measures to be taken” in other sectors of the active population, such as rural workers and workers in the informal economy.

6. Employment promotion for young persons and women. The Committee requests the Government to include in its next report quantitative evaluations of the creation of productive employment as a result of the measures taken by the Government in favour of young persons and women. Please also include statistical data on the situation, level and trends of employment, unemployment and underemployment, indicating the manner in which they affect particular categories of workers in the Dominican Republic who experience difficulties in finding lasting employment, such as women and young persons.

7. Migrant workers. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken in the context of an active employment policy to prevent abuses in the hiring of foreign workers and of those who leave the country to seek employment opportunities abroad.

8. Coordination of education and training policy with employment opportunities. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken to coordinate education and vocational training policies with prospective employment opportunities. Please indicate the results achieved in terms of the placement in employment of beneficiaries of the activities of the National Institute of Technical and Vocational Training (INFOTEP).

9. Part V of the report form. ILO technical cooperation. The Government states in its report that the ILO Subregional Office has presented a plan of action. In its previous comments, the Committee referred to the Tripartite Declaration on the promotion of employment and decent work in Central America and the Dominican Republic, concluded by the Ministers of Labour and representatives of employers’ and workers’ organizations in Tegucigalpa in June 2005. In the Tripartite Declaration, among other significant policies, it was agreed to place the objective of the creation of worthwhile, sustainable and high-quality jobs, in accordance with the parameters of the ILO, at the centre of macroeconomic policy, with efforts being focused not only on controlling inflation and the fiscal deficit but also, and with equal priority, on the promotion of investment and equitable growth. The Committee requests the Government to supply information in its next report on initiatives that have been taken with ILO support to promote, in the context of the Decent Work Country Programme, the objective of the creation of productive employment as set out in the Convention.