Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Bolivia (Plurinational State of) (Ratification: 1977)

1. Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Declaration and pursuit of an active employment policy. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes the report received in September 2009. The Government states that a new Constitution came into force on 7 February 2009, section 54 of which provides that it is the State’s obligation to establish employment policies which avoid unemployment and underemployment and seek to increase, maintain and generate conditions which ensure possibilities of decent employment and fair remuneration for workers. Furthermore, Supreme Decree No. 29894 of 7 February 2009 states that the responsibilities of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Welfare include formulating, proposing and coordinating the implementation of active and passive labour, employment and social welfare policies, especially for young persons. The Vice-Ministry of Employment, Civil Service and Cooperatives is responsible for the formulation, coordination and implementation of inter-sectoral plans and programmes for the generation and promotion of employment with the autonomous decentralized territorial entities and for the coordination with public and private bodies of the formulation and execution of plans and programmes relating to job placement, technical training and certification of labour skills.

2. The Committee notes the Government’s indication to the effect that the unemployment rate is 7.7 per cent (223,000 persons) for urban areas and 1.6 per cent (32,000 persons) for rural areas. In urban areas, the proportion of the working population living in poverty is 43.6 per cent (1.17 million persons), while the equivalent figure for rural areas is 76.6 per cent (1.5 million persons), which points to extremely precarious conditions of employment. The Committee notes that, in order to integrate policies, programmes and projects aimed at solving the main employment issues and devising guidelines for creating more opportunities of decent work, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Welfare is drawing up a national employment policy. The proposal for the national employment policy suggests that a macroeconomic policy must be pursued with a view to promoting industrialization, the recovery of the internal market and the redefinition of relations with the international markets in order to increase sustainable employment and redistribute income.

3. The Committee further notes that, in order to tackle the possible impact of the international employment crisis, the “Immediate Action Plan” has been drawn up with the objective of maintaining and creating employment on the basis of more dynamic public investment, with the focus on road transport and productive infrastructure, with 22,000 new jobs expected to be created. The Government also hopes that at least 15,000 new jobs will be created through the National Housing Programme. The Committee requests the Government to supply information in its next report on the formulation and implementation of the national employment policy and its impact on reducing unemployment and underemployment. The Committee also requests the Government to continue to supply information on the situation, level and trends in employment, unemployment and underemployment, in both urban and rural areas of the country. With reference to Article 3 of the Convention, the Committee also hopes that the report will include information on the manner in which the social partners participate in the development of the national employment policy and other policies, specifically within the Inter-Institutional Committee on the Promotion of Employment and in the National Industrial Development Council (CONDESIN). The Committee also requests the Government to supply information on how the representatives of the most vulnerable categories of the population – in particular, representatives of rural workers and from the informal economy – participate in the formulation of employment policies and programmes.

4. Youth employment. The Committee notes that paragraph VII of section 48 of the Constitution provides that the State shall ensure the incorporation of young persons in the system of production, in accordance with their skills and training. According to the information in the report, the youth unemployment rate exceeds 14 per cent and two programmes are being implemented, the “Youth in action” programme and the “My first decent job” programme, aimed at increasing the integration of young persons with limited resources in the labour market in order to improve their employability by means of training and placement programmes. The Committee requests the Government to supply information on the results achieved by these programmes in ensuring access to the labour market for young persons.

5. Informal economy and productive employment. The Government indicates that, in urban areas, 1.6 million of the working population are engaged in informal economic activities, mostly in the trade and services sectors. According to the Government, jobs in the informal economy are low in income and productivity and offer practically no access to any social benefit or protection for the worker. The Committee notes that a proposal was drawn up in 2009 for a policy of employability for the informal sector and actions by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Welfare were planned to promote the transition from the informal to the formal economy. The Committee requests the Government to supply information in its next report on the manner in which the measures mentioned in its report are contributing to the progressive transition of workers from the informal economy to the formal job market.

6. Micro-enterprises. The Committee observes that the March 2007 document on the Decent Work Programme for Bolivia indicates that, according to the “National development plan 2006–10”, eight out of ten jobs are created in highly precarious micro-enterprise units in which labour rights are neither recognized nor applied to workers, with insufficient physical and human resources and without access to entrepreneurial services. The Government indicates in its report that the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Productive Development and Plural Economy have drawn up the “Sectoral plan for productive development with decent work”, which focuses, among its principal strategies, on legislative change for the development of productive units, with the emphasis on micro- and small enterprises and the reinforcement of support services for the business sector. The Committee hopes that the Government will include information in its next report on progress made with regard to measures adopted through the “National development plan” and the “Sectoral plan for productive development with decent work” and its impact on improving the productivity and competitiveness of micro-, small and medium enterprises.

7. Cooperatives. The Committee notes that the new Constitution directly promotes the establishment of cooperatives as an alternative form of organization for strengthening the productive development of the country. The Committee refers to the Promotion of Cooperatives Recommendation, 2002 (No. 193), and requests the Government to indicate in its next report the manner in which cooperatives have contributed to the promotion of productive employment.

8. Coordination of education and vocational training policies with employment policy. The Committee observes that the “Economic and social development plan” of September 2007 proposed a process of change to transform the design and operation of education at pre-school, primary, secondary, technical and university levels, whether of a formal or alternative nature. Furthermore, with a view to improving the employability of workers, an institutional framework for the functioning of the national skill certification system was established, whereby the State formally recognizes individuals’ labour skills, regardless of how they were acquired. The Committee requests the Government to supply information on the coordination of education and vocational training policies with employment policies, particularly on how training opportunities created by the Training Institutes (ICAPs) are coordinated with the demand for the requisite knowledge and skills and the requirements of the labour market.