Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1992, published 79th ILC session (1992)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Guatemala (Ratification: 1988)

The Committee takes note of the Government's first report on the application of the Convention. The Government has provided an interesting document prepared by the National Department of Employment and Vocational Training listing the policies and actions of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare in the area of employment and income. It also refers to the preparation of a project to restructure the National Employment Department which includes measures set out in Convention No. 122 and which should enable the characteristics of employment offers to be analysed and knowledge of short-term labour prospects to be improved.

The Committee has also received information from the Employment Programme for Latin America (PREALC), which provided the Government with technical assistance in the form of project GUA/87/024 Strengthening the Ministry of Labour in the area of labour administration, legislation and employment. The Committee also notes the document Evaluation, analysis and formulation of employment and incomes policies in Guatemala, published by the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare in November 1988.

The Committee would be grateful if, in its next report, the Government would provide the information required by the report form, particularly with regard to the following matters:

(i) Article 1 of the Convention. Please indicate the extent to which the employment objectives included in the policies and actions of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare enumerated in the document of the National Employment Department enclosed with the report have been or are being attained.

(ii) Please refer to the employment policy measures concerning balanced regional development, particularly in the north of the country, and measures to promote complementary relationships between the formal sector (urban and rural) and the informal sector. The Government might find it useful to consult the annexes contained in the report form on the Convention (see in particular Chapter V of the Employment Policy (Supplementary Provisions) Recommendation, 1984 (No. 169).

(iii) Please give particulars of the impact on the labour market of the Act respecting economic compensation for length of service (Documentos de Derecho Social 1991/1, 1990-GTM1), especially the number of workers who have received unemployment benefit and the number of workers who have found new jobs since the mechanism came into force.

(iv) The Committee notes with interest the provisions of Ministerial Agreement No. 12, of 29 June 1983, to set up the Disabled Persons Placement Division in the National Department of Employment and Vocational Training of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (LS, 1983-Gua. 1). Please describe the operation of the above service and its impact on the employment of disabled persons. The Committee suggests that the Government might consult the provisions of the ILO instruments of 1983 concerning the vocational rehabilitation and employment of disabled persons (Convention No. 159 and Recommendation No. 168).

(v) Please specify the measures adopted or envisaged to meet the needs of other categories of workers who regularly encounter difficulties in finding lasting employment (for example, women, young people, etc.; see Paragraphs 15 et seq. of Recommendation No. 169 mentioned above).

(vi) In the annex to its report, the Government refers to a "programme of vocational guidance and training" aimed at training workers so that they acquire qualifications that will provide them with "better employment opportunities". Please describe the impact of measures adopted to coordinate education and training policies with prospective employment opportunities.

(vii) Article 2. The Committee notes with interest the statistical data transmitted by the Government, based on the national social-demographic survey of 1986-87 conducted by the National Institute of Statistics. According to information received from PREALC, project GUA/87/024 succeeded in providing the necessary data processing and storage capacity for a data bank on the labour market in Guatemala. Please indicate subsequent measures adopted to collect and analyse statistical and other data on the size and distribution of the labour force, the nature, extent and trends of unemployment, as a basis for deciding on measures of employment policy. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would forward copies or extracts of reports, studies and inquiries, statistical data to enable it to better ascertain the impact on employment of economic and social policy measures (Part VI of the report form).

(viii) Please describe the procedures adopted to ensure that the principal measures of employment policy are decided on and kept under periodical review within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy.

(ix) Article 3. In its report the Government indicates that a tripartite National Advisory Council has been set up to improve the operation of the National Department of Employment and Vocational Training. The Committee refers to its direct request of 1990 on the application of Articles 4 and 5 of the Employment Service Convention, 1948 (No. 88), and asks the Government to indicate how the representatives of the persons affected are consulted concerning employment policy.

(x) The Committee notes the recent Governmental Agreement, No. 129-91 of 1 March 1991, providing that the workers', employers' and cooperative sectors of the country are to be convened to participate, together with the Government of the Republic, in the examination, negotiation and formalisation of the Social Pact. Please provide information on how these consultations have influenced employment policy, and on consultations with representatives of the other sectors of the economically active population such as those working in the rural sector and the informal sector.

(xi) Part V of the report form. Please indicate the action taken as a result of, or any factors which have prevented or delayed, the measures suggested in the context of the technical assistance provided by the Office in the area of employment policy.