Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Employment Service Convention, 1948 (No. 88) - North Macedonia (Ratification: 1991)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that the next report will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous comments.

Repetition

Articles 1 and 3 of the Convention. Contribution of the employment service to employment promotion. The Committee notes the detailed information provided in the Government’s report in reply to its 2011 direct request. The Government indicates that the Employment Service Agency (ESA) offers employment intermediation services, support for active jobseekers and occupational orientation, motivational trainings of long-term unemployed persons and various activities to improve access to information on vacancies and its employment programmes. It also indicates that modernization of the services provided by the ESA is under way. The Committee notes that the number of participants in active measures provided by the ESA and that of former participants who have obtained employment respectively increased from 1,115 in 2011 to 8,350 in 2013 and from 285 in 2011 to 547 in 2013. It further notes that the ESA has opened 21 offices in various regions and that the number of persons registered in the ESA as unemployed at the end of 2011 has steadily decreased from 281,144 to 217,858 persons, composed of 96,200 active jobseekers and 121,658 passive jobseekers, as of the end of 2013. The number of applications for employment submitted by employers to the ESA has declined from 353,353, of which 53.2 per cent were filled in 2011, to 332,589 of which 39.9 per cent were filled in 2013. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the results of the active labour market measures implemented by the ESA. Please also include the results of the measures taken to improve the services provided by the ESA, including statistical data on the number of employment offices, applications for employment received, vacancies notified and persons placed in employment by the ESA.

Articles 4 and 5. Cooperation with the social partners. In reply to the previous direct request, the Government indicates that advisory committees for the cooperation of representatives of employers and workers have not been established. The Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the manner in which the members of the ESA Executive Board are appointed by workers’ and employers’ organizations as well as on the arrangements made through the ESA Executive Board for the cooperation of representatives of employers and workers in the organization and operation of the employment service and in the development of an employment service policy.

Article 8. Special arrangements for young workers. The Government indicates that a supplement of the Law on Employment and Unemployment Insurance in 2014 provides opportunities for easier inclusion of young persons in the labour market, including financial support for the employers that employ young persons. It also indicates that the ESA provides information on vacancies via web services for young persons as part of a project conducted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The Committee also notes with interest that the Employment Preparation Programme within the USAID Youth Network for Acquiring Employment Skills Project was carried out in 2013 in which 617 young unemployed persons participated in 36 trainings in total as well as the forums to support the employment of young graduates, which were held in 2014. It also notes that, in 2013, 2,829 young unemployed persons under the age of 30 participated in the active employment measures, making up 18.27 per cent of the total participants, among which 1,446 young persons obtained employment. As of January 2014, 27,540 persons under the age of 30, i.e. 28 per cent of the total unemployed persons, participated in those active employment measures. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the impact of the measures implemented by the ESA to increase employment opportunities for young persons.

Article 9. Status and training of employment service staff. The Government indicates that ESA staff has the status of civil servants and that the recruitment and selection of the staff is performed through certain procedures pursuant to the Law on Civil Servants. It also indicates that the staff of the ESA attends various seminars, trainings and workshops, including a project entitled Training Plan within the IPA Further Modernization of the ESA, which has been organized to ensure the training of 647 participants in different areas of the ESA’s operations. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on training of employment service staff.

Article 11. Cooperation between the public employment service and private employment agencies. The Government indicates that the Law on Employment and Unemployment Insurance, as amended in 2012, stipulates equal treatment of the private employment agencies with the ESA and their access to the unemployed persons’ data in the ESA. The Committee requests the Government to provide information, including practical examples, on the measures taken to secure effective cooperation between the public employment service and private employment agencies.