Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Dominican Republic (Ratification: 2001)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Active policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment. The Committee notes the report received in August 2011, which contains replies to some of the issues raised in previous comments and includes a technical document produced at the request of the Ministry of Labour, “Guidelines for an employment policy in the Dominican Republic”, published in March 2011. The Government indicates that, in the course of 2010, the National Employment Committee met on four occasions. In December 2010, a tripartite workshop was held, with ILO assistance, to study and enhance the proposed guidelines for employment policy in the framework of the National Development Strategy. The first course of action proposed for employment policy is to ensure proper coordination between macroeconomic policies and labour policies. The Committee further notes that the National Development Strategy 2030 (promulgated by Act No. 1-12 in January 2012) includes, among the five-year goals of the Second Strategic Axis, reducing the unemployment rate of persons aged 15 years and over, narrowing the regional gap in the unemployment rate and increasing the percentage of persons aged 15 years and over employed in the formal sector. The Committee invites the Government to indicate in its next report how it plans to formulate a national employment policy with the participation of the social partners, as required by Articles 1 and 3 of the Convention. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would include in its next report the official documents adopted which set out the active employment policy designed to give effect to the Convention.

Compilation and use of employment data. The Committee takes note of the statistics and the publications of the Dominican Labour Market Observatory. In the second half of 2010, the unemployment rate was an estimated 14.13 per cent, reflecting a 0.75 per cent reduction as compared to 2009. The Committee reiterates the importance of compiling and analysing updated statistical data and trends, as a basis for employment decision-making. The Committee invites the Government to include in its next report up-to-date statistical information on the numbers and distribution of the workforce and the nature and extent of unemployment, the generation of statistics being an essential step in the pursuit of an active employment policy within the meaning of the Convention.

Vulnerable groups. The Committee notes that at the end of 2010 the economically active population consisted of 39.18 per cent of women and 60.82 per cent of men. The highest unemployment rates are found among younger workers of both sexes, women and persons whose education ended at secondary level. The Government indicates in its report that in the period 2003–10, 55,003 young persons, including 32,573 women, benefited from the Youth and Employment Programme. The Committee notes that the courses of action set forth in the National Development Strategy include creating mechanisms to facilitate women’s integration in the labour market (2.3.1.6), strengthen programmes to facilitate the integration of young people in the labour market (2.3.4.12) and developing higher technical institutes to facilitate the integration of young people and women in the labour market (3.3.3.6). The Committee invites the Government to include detailed information in its next report on the measures taken to step up the programmes to facilitate the integration of young people and women in the labour market and the results obtained. Furthermore, the Committee again asks the Government to report in detail on the situation, level and trends of employment, unemployment and underemployment, indicating how they affect the most vulnerable groups (women, young people, poorer sectors of the population, rural workers and workers in the informal economy).

Migrant workers. In its report the Government refers to a draft resolution to update Resolution No. 41-2004 of 28 July 2004, in order to incorporate the new approaches developed by the ILO in the activities of private and public non-profit-making employment agencies. The Committee invites the Government to indicate in its next report the manner in which new measures have been adopted, as part of an active employment policy, in order to prevent abuse in the hiring of foreign workers and workers emigrating to seek employment opportunities abroad.

Coordination of training policies and employment policies. The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government on the Youth and Employment programme implemented by the National Institute for Technical Vocational Training (INFOTEP). The programme provides training for young people in INFOTEP centres with a view to placing them in the world of work. In 2011, the Ministry of Labour conducted 350 courses with INFOTEP, which were attended by 6,000 young people. Furthermore, the specific objectives laid down in the Guidelines include consolidation of the System of Vocational and Continuous Training for Work in order to support the production sector in its value-enhancement process, facilitate labour market integration and develop entrepreneurial capacity. The Committee again requests the Government to include detailed information in its next report on the measures taken to coordinate education and vocational training policy with the search for employment opportunities, including a summary of the results obtained by the INFOTEP programmes.

Small and medium-sized enterprises. The Committee again asks the Government to provide information in its next report on the impact of Act No. 488-08 of December 2008, establishing a system for regulating the development and competitiveness of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises with a view to creating quality jobs and reducing poverty.

Article 3. Participation of the social partners. The Committee notes that the technical document of March 2011 states that the implementation of employment policy will be based on dialogue between the social partners as a means of generating social consensus. The objective of the policy will be to create ongoing dialogue between the business, education, government and municipal sectors, among others, concerning the problem of employment. The Committee again asks the Government to provide detailed information in its next report on the consultations held to design and pursue an active employment policy. It again asks the Government to provide information on consultations held with representatives “of the persons affected by the measures to be taken” in other sectors of the economically active population such as those working in the rural sector and the informal economy.