Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Russian Federation (Ratification: 1967)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Implementation of an active employment policy. The Government indicates in its report that the situation on the labour market was stable in 2014. Total unemployment decreased from 5.5 per cent of the economically active population in 2013 to 5.2 per cent in 2014. The Government adds, however, that the situation changed in early 2015 when total unemployment increased from 5.2 per cent to 5.8 per cent, and the number of unemployed people registered with the employment service exceeded 1 million. The Committee notes that, in accordance with the Government’s Anti-recession Plan, measures have been drawn up to prevent an acute worsening of the situation on the labour market, to support efficient employment and to create balanced labour markets in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Subsidies are provided to the constituent entities from the federal budget to enable them to implement these measures. More specifically, subsidies are awarded to regional programmes that provide temporary employment, offer anticipatory vocational training and placements to workers at risk of redundancy and jobseekers, stimulate youth employment through social projects and organize employment schemes for persons with disabilities. Forms of employment, such as part-time work, flexible hours and working from home, are becoming increasingly widespread as a result of the implementation by constituent entities of the Russian Federation of packages of measures to allow women to combine family responsibilities and employment. Moreover, the Government indicates that the Plan of Priority Measures to Ensure the Sustainable Development of the Economy and Social Stability 2015, approved in January 2015, allocates 5.2 billion Russian Roubles (RUB) from the federal budget to implement additional measures aiming to reduce “tension” [the number of jobseekers per vacancy] in the labour markets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Rules on the provision and allocation of subsidies from the federal budget to the budgets of the constituent entities were also approved in January 2015 for implementing additional employment policy measures to reduce labour market tension, including: (i) temporary employment of workers at risk of redundancy and jobseekers; (ii) job placement by private employment agencies of workers at risk of redundancy; and (iii) anticipatory vocational training and placements for workers at risk of redundancy and jobseekers. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the impact and effectiveness of its active employment policy in terms of productive jobs creation. It also requests the Government to continue to provide information on the impact of the measures taken to increase the participation of women, young people, older workers and persons with disabilities in the labour market.

Coordination of education and training programmes with employment policy. The Committee notes the detailed information provided by the Government in its report on the vocational training programmes offered to women as well as persons with disabilities. It notes in this regard that between 2012 and 2014, over 40,000 women underwent vocational training, and also there were plans to train 16,600 people in 2015. It further notes that the Ministry of Education and Science is carrying out initiatives to increase the accessibility of vocational education to persons with disabilities. The Committee refers to its comments on the application of the Human Resources Development Convention, 1975 (No. 142), and requests the Government to provide information on the impact of the measures taken to ensure the coordination of education and training policies with employment policies.

Article 3. Participation of the social partners. The Committee previously expressed its hope that the Government would provide information which will enable an examination of the manner in which the experience and views of the social partners have been taken into account in the formulation and implementation of an active employment policy. It invited the Government to provide more specific information on the manner in which the social partners were consulted on the matters covered by the Convention. The Government describes in its report the main objectives and activities of the Tripartite Commission for the Regulation of Industrial Relations and Labour, established pursuant to Federal Act No. 92-FZ of 1 May 1999. The Committee requests the Government to provide more specific information on the consultations held with the social partners concerning the formulation and implementation of an active employment policy. In this regard, please provide information of the consultations held in practice.