Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1993, published 80th ILC session (1993)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Jamaica (Ratification: 1975)

The Committee notes that the Government's report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

The Committee takes note of the Government's report for the period ending June 1990 and the documentation supplied in response to its previous direct request. It would be grateful if the Government would provide complete information in reply to each of the questions in the report form, with particular reference to the following points.

1. The Committee notes that the unemployment rate, which continued to drop during the period under consideration, stood at 16.8 per cent in October 1989, the rate being 26.1 per cent for women and 34.1 per cent for young people. The Government indicates that, at the same time, there was a chronic shortage of skilled workers in several sectors of the economy. The Committee asks the Government in its next report to provide detailed statistical data of the level and trends of employment, unemployment and underemployment by sector of activity and category of the active population.

2. The Committee notes that under the five-year development plan for the period 1990-95 employment policy is assigned two objectives: the first is to attain an adequate level of economic growth to guarantee employment to jobseekers; the second is to provide the economy with the skilled labour it requires. The measures involved concern revival of the activity of placement services, the adoption of an industrial relations policy aimed at ensuring that wages keep pace with productivity, strengthening training activities particularly for categories of the population with specific needs in this area such as women, young people and the disabled. Please provide information on developments in, and the results obtained by, the implementation of the plan for each of these areas. In this connection, please indicate whether any particular difficulties, resulting for example from structural adjustment policies, have been encountered and to what extent they have been overcome.

3. The Committee notes the information concerning the respective attributions of the National Manpower Planning Coordinating Committee (MPCC) and the proposed National Training Agency in the drafting and implementation of employment and training policies. With reference to its previous direct request, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate how the representatives of the persons affected by the measures to be taken, particularly the representatives of employers and workers, are consulted on employment policy, in accordance with the provisions of Article 3 of the Convention.

4. The Committee notes the information on the training programmes implemented by the University of the West Indies and in the context of the HEART programme. It notes that the HEART programme gives priority to training young people from 17 to 25 years of age and hopes that the Government will be able to provide statistical data on the placement of these trainees in its next report. Please continue to provide information on the "Solidarity" programme to encourage the creation of small enterprises by young people between the ages of 18 and 30.