Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1994, published 81st ILC session (1994)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Norway (Ratification: 1966)

1. The Committee notes the Government's report for the period ending June 1992. According to the information in the report, employment continued to decline and unemployment to increase. The OECD data which bear out the detailed information supplied by the Government, show a drop in total employment of 0.9 per cent in 1990, 1 per cent in 1991 and 0.3 per cent in 1992. The unemployment rate rose from 5.2 per cent in 1990 to 5.5 per cent in 1991 and 5.9 per cent in 1992. The unemployment rate of the under 25 age group reached 13.9 per cent in 1992 and almost 25 per cent of the unemployed that year had been without work for more than one year. The Government also indicates an increase in underemployment, which particularly affects women and young people, in the form either of partial unemployment or involuntary temporary work. The continuation of relatively sustained growth in economic activity seems, at the moment, insufficient to reverse the downward trend in the labour market, which is appreciably less marked, however, than in most other OECD countries.

2. The Government indicates that the main objectives of its labour market policy are, in this context, to ensure speedy placement of jobseekers, prevent exclusion from working life, provide jobseekers with the right skills and curb the harmful effects of an imbalanced labour market. To this end, priority is given to promoting employment, as reflected in the importance attached to training measures and specially devised programmes for the most vulnerable categories of the population. The number of participants in employment programmes continued to increase in the reporting period, and the Committee notes with interest that follow-up surveys were carried out to assess the effect of these programmes on the employment of those concerned.It would be grateful if the Government would continue to provide the results of such surveys. The Committee notes the importance that the Government attaches to "active" labour market policy measures, as opposed to "passive" measures (to guarantee resources); it asks the Government to provide information in its next report on developments in the disbursement of public funds on this type of measure, since the data in the 1993 OECD economic survey do not appear to bear out the Government's assertion in this respect.

3. The Committee notes the indication that labour market policy objectives are integrated into the general economic policy, one of whose main priorities is to ensure conditions in which the economy can create stable employment. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee hopes that the next report will state, in answer to the questions in the report form, the manner in which the measures taken particularly in the areas of monetary and budgetary policies, prices, incomes and wages policies, investment policies or policies on balanced regional development contribute "within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy" to pursuing the objective of full, productive and freely chosen employment. It would be grateful if the Government would state the role played in this area by the Employment Commission mentioned in the report. The Committee regrets to note that the report does not contain the information requested on how representatives of persons affected, particularly representatives of employers and workers, are consulted on employment policy, in accordance with Article 3 of the Convention. It trusts that the next report will also contain detailed information on the effect given to this important provision of the Convention.