Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) (Ratification: 1982)

1. Article 1 of the Convention. Application of employment policy in the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government’s report for the period ending September 2006 in reply to the comments made in the direct request of 2005. The Committee notes that, according to the information provided by the Government in its report, with the more rapid increase in economic activity, the trend has been maintained for the growth of employment levels and open urban unemployment has fallen in recent years to an annual average of 12.9 per cent in 2005 and 10.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2006. The Committee also notes the interest of the State in expanding public expenditure towards productive investment, the financing of socio-productive training plans and the creation of micro-enterprises and cooperative associations as a means of giving effect to the right to work. The Committee notes the signing of the Framework Agreement for Co-responsibility for Industrial Transformation and the progress achieved in the protection and generation of new direct and indirect employment. Measures have also been adopted to finance micro-enterprises, cooperatives and other types of productive associations, while negotiating tables have been convened. The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report the results achieved in terms of the creation of productive and lasting employment through the measures adopted and the manner in which progress has been made in raising living standards, meeting the needs of the labour force and resolving the problem of unemployment and underemployment in the country.

2. Employment promotion and vulnerable groups. The Committee notes that the participation rate of women in the labour market is lower than that of men, with figures of 37 per cent for women and 68 per cent for men. The Government emphasizes in its report that the unemployment rate of women, which was 14.9 per cent in 2005, continues to be higher than that of men, with a gap of 3 percentage points. Youth unemployment (between 15 and 24 years of age) is high at 22.2 percentage points, but fell by 2 percentage points in 2006. The rate of formal employment is 46 per cent of the active population, demonstrating that the informal economy is still significant. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of the measures that are being adopted to increase employment opportunities and improve working conditions in the informal economy. The Committee once again requests the Government to include information in its next report on the situation, level and trends of employment, unemployment and underemployment of specific categories of workers (women and young persons in the poorest sectors of the population and workers in the rural sector and the informal economy). The Committee would also be grateful to be provided with information on studies carried out to assess the extent and distribution of the labour force, employment, unemployment and underemployment and the manner in which such studies have been used as a basis for keeping under regular review the measures that the Government has to adopt as an integral part of a coordinated economic and social policy to achieve the objectives set out in the Convention.

3. Article 3. Consultation of social partners on employment policy. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on participative democracy and transformative social dialogue which is enabling workers to develop new forms of political and social participation. In its report, the Government expresses its opinion on the limitations of the traditional machinery for representative democracy and refers to agreements to promote social dialogue. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in its next report so that it can examine the manner in which social dialogue contributes to the design and implementation of employment policies and it hopes that the Government will identify the measures adopted to consult representatives of workers in the rural sector and the informal economy in relation to their prospects of obtaining decent work.