Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Algeria (Ratification: 1969)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Implementation of an active employment policy. The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in August 2009 in reply to the observation of 2008. The Government indicates that a Plan of Action for the Promotion of Employment and Combating Unemployment was adopted in April 2008. This plan places the creation of lasting and decent employment at the heart of economic and social policies and aims to reduce the unemployment rate, standing at 13 per cent since 2007, to under 10 per cent by 2009–10 and under 9 per cent by 2011–13. Seven priority areas have been determined in the plan of action, including: support for investment in the employment-creating economic sector, promotion of training leading to qualifications, promotion of an incentive policy for the creation of employment in favour of enterprises and promotion of youth employment through the new mechanism providing assistance with vocational integration. The Government indicates that employment support programmes have also been put in place, such as the national programme for the development of agriculture and the national programme for rural development, which aim to provide rural groups that usually have no land assets with the financial and material means to enable them to participate in the implementation of projects in their locality. The Committee also notes the National Economic and Social Pact, which was concluded on 30 September 2006 for a period of five years. The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report whether any particular difficulties have been encountered in achieving the objectives of the National Economic and Social Pact, adopted in September 2006, and the Plan of Action for the Promotion of Employment and Combating Unemployment, adopted in April 2008, and to state to what extent these difficulties in job creation have been overcome. The Committee also requests the Government to include up-to-date information on the current situation and trends regarding the active population, employment, underemployment and unemployment, throughout the country and in the different regions, by sector of activity, sex, age and level of qualifications.

Youth employment. The Committee notes the vocational integration assistance mechanism (DAIP), which has facilitated the conclusion of 48,002 professional integration contracts, 29,721 vocational integration contracts and 86,573 training/integration contracts. By the end of 2008, a total of 164,296 jobs had been created for young first-time jobseekers. The DAIP also introduced a training/integration contract for young persons without training or qualifications, by means of an apprenticeship with a master craftsman for one year with a grant of 4,000 Algerian dinars (DZD) per month for a maximum period of six months. In the same context, there are plans to pay grants of DZD3,000 to unqualified young persons who embark on training in shortage occupations. A local project financing study committee (CLEF) responsible for evaluating projects presented by young jobseekers, in collaboration with the National Youth Employment Support Agency (ANSEJ), has been established. According to the information compiled in the General Survey of 2010 concerning employment instruments, the Committee noted that there is a high rate of unemployment among educated workers, particularly young university graduates, who are unable to find employment commensurate with their skill level. This is now an issue for the advanced market economies as well as developing countries. Not only are the skills of young graduates underutilized, but this pattern of casual jobs can also prove detrimental to their lifetime career progression. The Committee therefore encourages governments to develop job creation and career guidance policies targeted at this new category of the educated unemployed (General Survey, op. cit., paragraph 800). The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate in its next report the results achieved for ensuring productive employment for the recipients of the vocational integration assistance mechanism (DAIP) and to provide information on the new measures adopted to combat youth unemployment, particularly young graduates and under- or unqualified young persons.

Promotion of small and micro-enterprises. The Committee notes the measures adopted for promoting the development of SMEs, particularly in the form of training in techniques for the creation and management of activities for promoters; the development of business incubators; the setting up of facilitation centres in the craft sector; the establishment of an advisory council for SMEs; and the setting up of three specialist micro-enterprise agencies and specific funds to support small enterprises. In 2008, a total of 13,191 micro-enterprises were created, generating 37,154 permanent jobs. In the 2010 General Survey, the Committee also emphasized the importance for small and medium-sized enterprises to have access locally and nationally to support services for human resources development. The Committee requests the Government to supply information in its next report on the measures taken “to create an environment conducive to the growth and development of small and medium-sized enterprises” (see Paragraph 5 of the Job Creation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Recommendation, 1998 (No. 189)).

Labour market policies in favour of workers with disabilities. The Government indicates that centres providing assistance through work and also teaching centres provide training for persons with disabilities with a view to their vocational integration. The Committee requests the Government to supply further details in its next report on the activities of these centres and to include any other relevant information concerning the integration of workers with disabilities in the labour market.

Article 3. Participation of the social partners in the formulation and implementation of policies. The Committee notes the establishment at national level of two national committees, the first chaired by the Prime Minister and the second by the Minister for Employment, and also of a local committee responsible for the monitoring and coordination of employment mechanisms in order to evaluate progress towards full employment. The Committee invites the Government to supply in its next report, further information on the activities of these committees indicating, in particular, the contribution of the social partners to the formulation and revision of employment policies and programmes. It also requests the Government to indicate the manner in which account is taken of the opinion of “representatives of other sectors of the economically active population” such as those working in the rural sector and the informal economy, with a view to securing their full cooperation in formulating and enlisting support for such policies.