Observación (CEACR) - Adopción: 1992, Publicación: 79ª reunión CIT (1992)

Convenio sobre la política del empleo, 1964 (núm. 122) - Suecia (Ratificación : 1965)

1. The Committee notes with interest the detailed information supplied by the Government in its report for the period ending June 1990. According to this information, the favourable development of the employment market continued during the period under consideration. Employment continued to rise and the already high participation rates increased still further for both sexes and for the various age categories, while unemployment affected only 1.5 per cent of the active population. Recent data (particularly those published by the OECD), however, show that, since the end of that period, the employment situation has tended to worsen appreciably. In a situation of declining economic activity and a marked slow-down in employment growth, the unemployment rate rose to over 3 per cent by the end of 1991, despite a decrease in the active population. Whilst the excellent position described in the report accompanied a policy clearly in step with the aims of the Convention, recent indications of some difficulties have been met with prompt response in an effort to maintain the position.

2. The documents to which the Government refers in its report show that full employment is one of the overall objectives of its general economic policy, which also aims to achieve rapid economic growth, an equitable distribution of income, a healthy balance of payments and a low inflation rate. However, in its guidelines for the 1990-91 Budget Act, the Government states that the immediate future will be crucial in deciding whether or not it will be possible to reduce inflation without, as is usual in other countries, having recourse to high unemployment. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply information in its next report on the general economic policy measures that have been taken or are envisaged in the new context of a slow-down of economic activity in order to maintain the policy of promoting full employment as a "major goal".

3. The Committee notes with interest that, during the period covered by the report, the Government continued to emphasise active employment promotion measures such as the provision of assistance for geographical mobility, the provision of paid vocational training to the unemployed, subsidies to enterprises recruiting young or disabled jobseekers, and the financing of training in enterprises intended to adapt workers to new technologies and changes in the organisation of work. The Committee hopes that the Government will continue to supply detailed information on these measures and their impact on employment, and on any new measures that are taken to combat unemployment.