Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1998, published 87th ILC session (1999)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Thailand (Ratification: 1969)

1. The Committee notes the Government's report and the information contained in response to its previous request. It notes that the brutal economic recession has resulted in a sharp increase in the unemployment rate which the Government estimates at 5.7 per cent in 1998. The Committee notes that the rise in unemployment has been even greater amongst the most educated workers. It requests the Government to continue to provide any available statistical information on employment, underemployment and unemployment.

2. The Committee notes with interest the results which had been achieved immediately prior to the financial crisis through the implementation of the Seventh National Development Plan (1992-96) in reducing poverty and regional disparities in particular. The Committee notes that, although the sharp reduction in public expenditure following the crisis may increase poverty, the Government is giving priority to alleviating its social impact on the most disadvantaged categories of the population. The Committee notes the creation of a National Committee on Unemployment Alleviation, responsible for coordinating the measures implemented by the various ministries in order to reduce the rise in unemployment and to alleviate its social consequences. The Committee hopes the Government's next report will contain more detailed information on the nature and scope of the measures referred to by the Government, as well as the results which have been achieved.

3. In more general terms, the Committee recalls that under Article 2 of the Convention, employment policy measures must be decided on and kept under review "within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy". The Committee notes in this regard the information on the fixing of minimum wage rates and requests the Government to provide information on the procedures adopted to pursue the objectives of the Convention and any other important aspects of economic and social policy, in particular, monetary and exchange rate policies, budgetary policy, trade policy and prices, incomes and wages policy.

4. The Committee notes the importance given by the Eighth National Development Plan to the development of human resources through the improvement of skills. Please continue to provide detailed information on the training activities for the employment market, by describing any new training or retraining measures implemented in response to the deterioration in the employment situation.

5. Article 3. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the activities of the Advisory Council for National Labour Development, the subjects that it examines, the opinions expressed and the manner in which they have been taken into account. Moreover, the Committee notes that the representatives of workers and employers are associated with the National Committee on Unemployment Alleviation. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee again requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that the representatives of persons employed in the rural and informal sectors are also included in consultations on employment policy.

6. Point V of the report form. The Committee has been informed of the ILO's technical advisory and cooperation activities undertaken in particular to follow up the recommendations of the High-Level Tripartite Meeting on Social Responses to the Financial Crisis in East and South-East Asian Countries (Bangkok, 22-24 April 1998). The Committee requests the Government to provide full information in its next report on any action taken as a result of these activities by the various ministries concerned. The Committee recalls that the Government may seek the assistance of the multidisciplinary team in Bangkok in order to examine the means by which the Convention can be applied and for the preparation of reports.