Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2005, published 95th ILC session (2006)

Employment Service Convention, 1948 (No. 88) - Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) (Ratification: 1964)

1. Contribution of the public employment service to the promotion of employment. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in September 2004 in relation to its observation of 2001. The Government reports on the progress achieved by the employment services provided through the network of 29 employment offices which benefit from automated technical support. With a view to achieving the best possible organization of the employment market, efforts are being made to include an employment benefits scheme to insure against the contingency of involuntary loss of employment and unemployment in the context of a new Organic Social Security Act, which would be under the responsibility of the National Employment Institute of the Social Security System. Taking into account the labour market situation which continues to be monitored in its comments on the application of the Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122), the Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report the coordination that has been established between the network of agencies of the national employment service and the National Employment Institute to provide assistance to the unemployed. The Committee reiterates its interest in receiving updated statistical data, in published annual or periodical reports, concerning the number of public employment offices established, the number of applications for employment received, the number of vacancies notified and the number of persons placed in employment by such offices (Part IV of the report form).

2. Cooperation of the social partners. Follow-up of a representation. In its previous comments, the Committee requested information on the number of advisory committees established at the national and regional levels, the manner in which they have been constituted and the procedure adopted for the appointment of employers’ and workers’ representatives. With reference to the recommendations made by a tripartite committee in 1993, information was requested on any amendment to section 604 of the Organic Labour Act to ensure its full conformity with Articles 4 and 5 of the Convention, which do not establish any distinction between employers’ and workers’ organizations with regard to the operation of the employment service. In its last report, the Government states that advisory committees have not been constituted formally at the national, regional and local levels. The Government adds that it has encouraged the necessary mechanisms with a view to achieving the cooperation of the labour and employers’ sectors in order to promote and consolidate the various programmes and services which are provided to the user population through the network of public agencies which constitute the National Employment Service. Finally, the Government indicates that, in the context of a legislative reform that is currently under way, the national provisions will be brought into harmony with the requirements of the Convention. The Committee refers to the comments that it has been making for many years and hopes that the Government will indicate in the near future the measures adopted to comply with the recommendations of the tripartite committee which were approved by the ILO Governing Body in May 1993.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2007.]