Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

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

Employment promotion. The Committee notes an observation from the General Confederation of Workers of Mauritania (CGTM) forwarded to the Government in September 2011. The CGTM deplores the introduction of a provision in the Labour Code leaving the management of employment offices to private organizations. The trade union recalls that the State has the obligation to define and promote employment policy in the country, which would be the best means of combating poverty and the current crisis and also of ensuring the best possible distribution of natural resources. The CGTM notes the systematic recourse to multinational companies, which exploit the principal mining, fishing and agricultural resources of the country without adopting genuine policies to promote employment. Furthermore, the multinational companies make use of expatriate staff to fill high-level positions. The CGTM considers that it is incorrect to say that there is a lack of skills among the national workforce. The CGTM also indicates that the major sectors which are the sources of employment, such as agriculture and stock breeding, are seriously dysfunctional. In this regard, the Committee refers to its direct request of 2010 concerning the application of the Fee-Charging Employment Agencies Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 96), where it noted that, in response to a crucial problem of unemployment, the Government established the National Youth Employment Promotion Agency (ANAPEJ) and had once again authorized labour inspectorates to open employment offices. The Committee refers to its 2010 General Survey concerning employment instruments, in which it emphasized that one of the fundamental steps contributing towards the achievement of full employment is to build or strive to build institutions that ensure an efficient public employment service and to regulate the operation of private employment agencies (paragraph 786). The Committee requests the Government to provide a report indicating the measures taken to reinforce the institutions necessary for the achievement of full employment. It hopes that the report will contain precise information on the contribution of existing employment offices in the country towards ensuring the adequate placement of available workers in the labour market. It recalls that assistance is available from the ILO to promote the Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy.

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Coordination of employment policy with poverty reduction. In its previous comments the Committee noted the “National Employment Strategy and Plan of Action 2008–12”. The Government indicated that the objectives pursued by the National Employment Strategy were geared to those laid down by the Strategic Framework for Poverty Reduction 2006–10 (CSLP 2), namely reducing the unemployment rate to less than 25 per cent and increasing the rate of persons completing technical or vocational training to 55 per cent in 2010. According to the latest estimates, even though the poverty index in 2008 was 42 per cent, compared to 46.7 per cent in 2004, this figure is still far removed from the 25 per cent target fixed for 2015. The National Employment Strategy had enabled the main gaps in employment policy to be identified, namely a very high unemployment rate, a national economy dominated by the informal sector and a mismatch between training and the needs of the national labour market. Issues and structures related to employment would now be grouped together within the Ministry of Employment, Integration and Vocational Training (MEIFP). The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the results achieved under the National Employment Strategy in terms of the creation of lasting employment and the reduction of underemployment and poverty. In particular, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply information on the steps taken to improve the vocational and technical training available for young persons and women, to promote small and micro-enterprises, and to create productive and lasting employment in conditions which are socially satisfactory for workers in the informal economy.

Employment promotion and labour-intensive services. In its National Employment Strategy, the Government indicated that its economic choices had concerned industrial and commercial projects and labour-intensive services. The labour-intensive approach (HIMO) aimed at integrating persons with few or no skills in working life had been tried out in numerous programmes, such as the stone masonry programme, the urban development programme and the integrated national programme to support small and micro-enterprises. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the number of jobs created by the labour-intensive programmes and on their impact on the creation of productive employment.

Compilation and use of employment data. The Committee previously noted that the sixth component of the employment strategy underlined the need to establish a national information system on the employment market and a mechanism for technical and vocational training. This system would cover three main areas: (a) creation and operation of the network of producers and users of employment and training data, with the joint involvement of the Ministry of Employment, the National Office for Statistics, sectoral departments and the private sector; (b) monitoring of employment and the technical and vocational training mechanism; and (c) focusing on studies and analysis to improve the system and share information. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the progress made in the compilation of employment data, stating the employment policy measures further adopted to the establishment of a new national employment information system.

Article 3. Participation of the social partners in policy formulation and implementation. The Committee previously noted that, in the context of the National Employment Strategy, two institutional mechanisms would be established, namely an Inter-Ministerial Committee on Employment and a Higher Council for Employment, Training and Labour (CSEFT), chaired by the Ministry of Employment, and that within these two bodies the social partners would be represented. The Committee requests the Government to supply detailed information on the operation of these two bodies, and also on the participation of the social partners in the implementation of the National Employment Strategy. It also requests the Government to indicate the steps taken or contemplated to involve representatives of persons living in rural areas and those operating in the informal economy in the consultations provided for by the Convention.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2012.]