Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Peru (Ratification: 1967)

The Committee notes the observations of the Autonomous Workers’ Confederation of Peru (CATP), received on 3 September 2018, and the Government’s replies to these observations, received on 30 October 2018.

Articles 1–3 of the Convention. Active employment policy. Participation of the social partners. The Committee notes the Government’s indication, in reply to its previous comments, that the Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion (Ministry of Labour), in the context of the various employment strategies and programmes which have been implemented, has established various objectives, including the following: promoting formal jobs with access to labour rights and social security coverage, enhancing employability and promoting self employment for young persons, strengthening the tripartite National Labour Council, and also building skills and creating employment opportunities for persons in vulnerable situations (particularly women victims of gender violence and persons with disabilities) and unemployed or underemployed persons. The Government refers to the implementation of various programmes, including the Impulsa Perú national programme (for the creation of job opportunities), which promotes employment by enhancing skills and increasing the employability of unemployed and underemployed persons and persons at risk of losing their jobs. The Government also refers to the implementation of the Trabaja Perú programme (for the creation of inclusive social employment) with a view to creating durable quality employment for unemployed and underemployed persons in urban and rural areas living in poverty and extreme poverty, through the assignment of unskilled labour to public investment projects relating to basic social and economic infrastructure. The programme beneficiaries are women heads of household, young persons and persons with disabilities living in poverty or extreme poverty. Furthermore, the Government reports on the drawing up of a draft “National green employment plan”, whose objective is to promote the creation of decent jobs involving the sustainable use of natural resources and improvement of the environment, including socially vulnerable groups. Furthermore, employment centres provide personalized advisory and skill development services free of charge for jobseekers. As regards the measures taken to reduce the rate of informality in employment, the Government refers to the adoption of the “Sectoral strategy for occupational training 2018–21”, which includes the application of incentives to enable access to formalization and compliance with the legislation, awareness-raising regarding the benefits of formal employment and the establishment of the Formaliza Perú centre, which enables access to public and private services facilitating access to formalization. The CATP, for its part, states that such measures are insufficient, since formal sectors with high rates of informality already exist, such as road transport and urban transport in general (99 per cent of workers are not in official company registers). The CATP indicates that, since the Ministry of Labour does not have sufficient resources to monitor compliance with measures relating to formalization, there are many informal workers in formal enterprises who do not enjoy statutory social benefits or minimum wages. As regards labour market trends, the Government states that in 2017 there were 236,365 men and 177,915 women who were economically active in private enterprises employing between two and ten workers under formal employment conditions. The Government adds that the rate of formality was 13.4 per cent (11.9 per cent for men and 16 per cent for women). Lastly, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that the “National employment policy” was discontinued under Supreme Decree No. 032-2018-PCM23 of March 2018. The Government adds that the Government’s “General policy” up to 2021 was adopted, that includes among the general policy focus on the formulation of the “National employment policy”, with a particular focus on promoting the creation of formal, quality employment for young persons. The Committee notes that the CATP claims that the social partners have no participation in the formulation of employment policy and are not consulted on its essential components. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing detailed, up-to-date information on the measures taken or contemplated to achieve the objectives of the Convention, particularly on the manner in which these have enabled beneficiaries (in particular women, young persons and persons with disabilities) to secure full, productive and lasting employment. The Committee also requests the Government to continue providing information on the measures taken or contemplated to promote labour formalization, and also their impact. In addition, the Committee requests the Government to continue providing up to date statistical information on labour market trends, particularly figures for the active population and the employment and unemployment rates in both the formal and informal economies, disaggregated by sex and age and, if possible, by urban and rural areas. The Committee further requests the Government to provide detailed information on the consultations held with the social partners concerning the matters covered by the Convention.

Categories of workers in vulnerable situations. In its previous comments, the Committee asked the Government to provide information on measures adopted or envisaged to improve the employability of persons belonging to groups in vulnerable situations, including persons with disabilities, older workers and indigenous peoples. It also asked the Government to provide information on the impact of the project to improve the employability of pallaqueras (women who collect remnants of gold after it has been mined and sifted). The Committee notes that the Government refers to the formulation of a draft “National plan for productive self-employment”, which seeks to promote highly-productive self-employment and formality for the creation of decent work. In this context, a joint working group has been set up, in which the Ministry of Labour and the Single Confederation of Workers (CUT) participate to propose mechanisms for the promotion and formalization of productive self employment. The Committee also notes the CATP’s concerns regarding the small number of persons with disabilities working in the public sector and raises this issue in its observation on the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983 (No. 159). Lastly, the Government reports on the adoption of the “Entrepreneurship-building action plan” for pallaqueras or their children in the provinces of San Antonio de Putina, Sandia and Carabaya (Puno), the objective of which is to enable such workers to engage in formal business without any environmental impact through the development of entrepreneurial capacities, advice and technical assistance regarding the development of business plans. However, the Government indicates that so far the action plan has not been implemented since no budget has yet been allocated to it. With regard to the promotion of employment for indigenous peoples, the CATP states that no measures have been adopted in this regard and that jungle deforestation and pollution of the rivers and lakes of indigenous communities are driving the population into illegal mining or deforestation in other areas. The Committee observes that the Government does not include any information in its report on measures taken or contemplated in order to improve the employability of older workers and indigenous persons. The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to provide detailed, up-to-date information on the measures taken or envisaged to improve the employability of persons in vulnerable situations, including older and indigenous workers, including the measures taken as part of the “National plan for productive self-employment”. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the impact of these measures. The Committee further requests the Government to send information on the status of implementation of the “Entrepreneurship building action plan” for pallaqueras or their children and the impact thereof. With regard to persons with disabilities, the Committee refers to its observation on Convention No. 159.

Youth employment. The Committee notes that the Government, in reply to its previous comments, provides statistical information to the effect that in 2017 there were 4,594,592 economically active young persons, of whom 1,219,492 were waged employees with formal status (43.4 per cent). The Government indicates that it is continuing to implement the Jóvenes Productivos national youth employment programme, the objectives of which include developing and strengthening the labour competencies of young persons living in poverty or extreme poverty, facilitating their access to the labour market and supporting youth entrepreneurship. The programme has two lines of action: skills development for both employment and self-employment. The Government indicates that 6,912 young men and 6,084 young women benefited from this programme between 2016 and June 2018. The Government indicates that it has drafted a “National youth employment plan”, whose purpose is to promote decent, productive employment for young persons, the employability of young women workers, the entrepreneurial capacities of young persons, and the social integration of groups of young persons facing poverty and social exclusion. The Government indicates that, in April 2016, it joined the “Youth action plan” of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for tackling the crisis in youth employment and the transition of young persons to the labour market. The Government refers to the implementation since 2017 of the Fortalece Perú programme, which is valid for five years and whose objective is to improve and expand employment centre services for placing young persons from various urban areas in the country in formal employment. However, the Committee notes that the CATP claims that the measures implemented by the Government to promote youth employment only have a temporary impact. The CATP points to the high rate of informal employment and the lack of occupational training for young persons. In particular, the CATP indicates that young persons are more at risk of engaging in informal employment than adults and that over half of young professionals are working in occupations which do not correspond to their level of education. Lastly, the CATP points out that no account has been taken of the impact on the labour market of technological developments or of the labour migration of young persons. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing detailed, up-to-date information, disaggregated by sex and age, on the impact of the adopted measures on the creation of opportunities for productive and lasting employment for young persons, especially those promoting formal employment for young persons.

Coordination of education and technical and occupational training measures with employment policy. In its previous comments, the Committee asked the Government to provide information on the impact on job creation of measures to coordinate national employment policy and vocational training policy. The Committee notes that the Government refers to the signing of a new institutional cooperation agreement on 24 April 2017 between the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Education and the Peruvian Institute of Business Administration (IPAE) concerning ongoing work to strengthen the Ponte en Carrera education and employment observatory. The Government adds that since the launch of the observatory’s online platform in June 2016, a total of 855,617 users were recorded by August 2018. Moreover, the Vocational Guidance and Occupational Information Service (SOVIO) at the Ministry of Labour provided vocational and occupational guidance free of charge for 162,522 young persons in the 16–24 age group between January 2016 and June 2018. In this regard, the CATP alleges that the number of young persons for whom guidance was provided is insufficient, given that 400,000 young persons between 16 and 18 years of age complete their studies every year. The Committee also notes the CATP’s claim that a public policy is needed to generate a process of change in the linkages between education and work. The CATP denounces the fact that workers’ organizations have no participation in public vocational training institutions and that there is no social dialogue on vocational training. However, the Committee observes that the Government does not provide any information in its report on the impact on job creation of coordination measures between national employment policy and vocational training policy. The Committee requests the Government to send detailed, up-to-date information on the measures taken or contemplated, in cooperation with the social partners and the representatives of different sectors, for coordinating education and training policies with possible employment opportunities. The Committee also once again requests the Government to send statistical information, disaggregated by sex and age, on the impact on job creation of the application of the aforementioned measures.

Cooperatives. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government, in reply to its previous comments, concerning the measures taken to promote the creation of productive employment through cooperatives and to combat and eliminate the practices of “pseudo-cooperatives”. In this regard, the Government indicates that it is conducting an assessment regarding the adoption of a new General Cooperatives Act with a view to updating the regulations in force, since many of its aspects are out-of-date and cause confusion at the time of establishing a cooperative or determining taxation matters or the inspection system. The Government indicates that the new proposal unifies the regulations concerning cooperatives and that consensus was reached in its formulation with cooperative unions and public institutions that have competence in cooperative matters. Furthermore, the Cooperatives and Institutions Directorate within the Directorate-General for Business Development has pointed to the need to formulate and implement a public policy on cooperatives, defining strategic objectives and guidelines for the promotion and sustainable development of that sector. Moreover, the Government refers to the My.Coop Perú programme, which seeks to increase the competitiveness of agricultural cooperatives through the development of management capacities and the promotion of cooperative education with the aim of offering high-quality products and services. The Government indicates that between January 2012 and July 2018 training was provided for 1.25 million representatives (managers and workers) in 251 cooperatives in various departments of the country. The Committee observes that, according to the 2016 census of cooperatives, cooperatives exist in over 300 districts nationwide and have over 1.5 million members. The Committee notes that the CATP, in its observations, claims that there is no real development of cooperatives in the country. As regards measures taken to combat and eliminate the practices of “pseudo-cooperatives”, the Government refers to the drawing up of regulations for the supervision of cooperatives to ensure that savings and credit cooperatives are governed by a regulatory framework and are supervised. The aforementioned regulations also provide for the establishment of a “cooperative deposit insurance fund” with the involvement of the Ministry of Production. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed, up-to-date information on the impact of the measures taken or contemplated to boost the creation and promotion of productive employment by cooperatives, including those adopted as part of the My.Coop Perú programme. The Committee also requests the Government to send information on progress made regarding the formulation and adoption of the new General Cooperatives Act, on a public policy for cooperatives and regulations for the supervision of cooperatives, and to provide a copy of the latter when they are adopted.

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The Committee notes the Government’s reference to the adoption of various measures to boost micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), such as the adoption of the Tu Empresa national programme in 2017, with the aim of helping to increase productivity and sales for MSMEs, providing them with facilities for formalization, access to formal credit, digitization, and development of entrepreneurial capacity. In January 2017, Legislative Decree No. 1332 was adopted, optimizing processes for providing advice and technical assistance for the establishment of enterprises through business development centres, with a view to promoting business formalization. The Government also refers to the “MSME citizen support centres”, centralizing services relating to business start-up and development provided by public institutions, thereby enabling savings of time and costs. Furthermore, the Government indicates that a series of actions have been undertaken in the context of the Pacific Alliance (comprising Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru), which aims to form an area of integration for ensuring complete freedom in the movement of goods, services, capital and persons. In this regard, the Government indicates that it is planned to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the objective of creating a Pacific Alliance network of business development centres to drive the growth and internationalization of MSMEs in the abovementioned countries. The Committee also notes that the CATP reports difficulties faced by MSMEs in gaining access to credit (annual interest rates on credit sometimes amount to over 50 per cent), which hampers formalization, so that they become enterprises which barely survive and are often guilty of social dumping towards their workers. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing detailed, up-to-date information on the steps taken or contemplated to facilitate the creation of micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the country, especially those aimed at promoting formalization and access to credit. The Committee also requests the Government to provide statistical information on the number and type of enterprises established and the number of posts created by such enterprises.