Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2006, published 96th ILC session (2007)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Guatemala (Ratification: 1988)

1. Coordination of employment policy and poverty reduction. The Committee notes the detailed information provided by the Government in relation to its 2004 comments. The Government refers to the document requested from the ILO Subregional Office on employment policy directives and decent work in Guatemala, which was submitted at the end of 2004 to the Tripartite Commission on International Labour Issues, within which an Employment Generation Subcommittee was established to examine the document, improve it and gather the views of other national bodies. The Government states that it is formulating a national employment and decent work policy to promote mass access to productive employment, improve employment levels, combat unemployment and underemployment and guarantee security of employment and income for workers. The cross-cutting themes of the employment and decent work policy are gender and indigenous peoples. The Committee once again expresses interest in continuing to be provided with information on the manner in which the Government ensures that employment occupies a central role in macroeconomic and social policies when formulating and implementing the national Poverty Reduction Strategy and in promoting decent work. The Committee considers that it is essential from the outset for employment objectives to be included “as a major goal” in the formulation of economic and social policy if these objectives are truly to be an integral part of the policies that are adopted (2004 General Survey on promoting employment, paragraph 490). In this respect, the Committee notes the “Tripartite Declaration for the promotion of employment and decent work in Central America and the Dominican Republic”, concluded by the Ministers of Labour and representatives of employers’ and workers’ organizations in Tegucigalpa in June 2005. It was agreed in the Tripartite Declaration, among other significant policies, to include the objective of creating worthwhile, lasting and high-quality jobs, in accordance with ILO parameters, as a central aim of macroeconomic policy, with efforts being focused not only on controlling inflation and the fiscal deficit, but also and with equal priority on the promotion of investment and equitable growth. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide information in its next report on the initiatives taken with ILO support to promote, at both the national and subregional levels, the objectives of the creation of productive employment as set out in the Convention (Part V of the report form).

2. The Government provided information on the persons registered with the Electronic Employment Exchange, the vacancies available and the persons placed in employment. It also provided information on the progress achieved in certifying skills in the firework industry and in the clothing and textiles industry. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information in its next report on the situation, level and trends of employment, unemployment and underemployment, with an indication of the extent to which they affect the most vulnerable categories (women, young persons, older workers, rural workers and workers in the informal economy). The Committee asks the Government to indicate the extent to which the objectives of education and vocational training policies have been coordinated with prospective employment opportunities.

3. The Committee recalls that it requested the Government to provide information on the impact on the local labour market of temporary or permanent movements of migrant workers. The Committee reiterates its interest in being provided with information on the measures adopted for infrastructure development and their impact on job creation, as well as the contribution of export processing zones to the creation of lasting and high-quality employment and the impact of trade agreements on the labour market.

4. Participation of the social partners. The Government states that, with a view to strengthening dialogue on employment, it is continuing to promote employment councils in relation to employment placement, human resources development and self-employment. It also adds that the Employment Directorate has convened 16 meetings of the Tripartite Employment Generation Subcommittee. The Committee refers once again to Article 3 of the Convention, under which consultations have to be held with representatives of all the persons affected, and in particular with representatives of employers and workers, for the formulation and adoption of employment policies. The Committee considers that it is the joint responsibility of governments and the representative organizations of employers and workers to ensure that representatives of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups of the economically active population are associated as closely as possible with the formulation and implementation of measures of which they should be the prime beneficiaries (see 2004 General Survey, op. cit., paragraph 493). In this respect, the Committee once again expresses interest in being informed of employment-generation proposals made by employer and worker representatives, and on the measures implemented by the Government as a result of the agreements reached. The Committee trusts that the Government will continue to provide information on the consultations held regarding the formulation and implementation of measures intended to achieve the objectives of full and productive employment set out in the Convention, including consultations with other sectors affected, such as representatives of the rural sector, the informal economy and the export processing sector.