Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Paraguay (Ratification: 1969)

Previous comment

The Committee notes the observations of the Central Confederation of Workers Authentic (CUT-A), received on 30 August 2022. The Committee notes that it has received no response to these observations from the Government and requests it to provide its comments in this regard.

Articles 1 and 3 of the Convention. Active employment measures. Informal economy. The Committee notes information from the Government on the approval in May 2022 of the National Employment Plan for 2022–26, which includes, inter alia, promoting the transition to formality through monitoring activities, stimulating labour intermediation, and building in greater advantages and incentives. In this regard, the Plan envisages the development of public and private action aimed at generating formal employment as the economy grows, with emphasis placed on young persons, women, and groups in vulnerable situations. The Committee also notes: (i) the adoption of the Employment Reactivation Plan for 2020–21, which includes promoting formal employment among its objectives; and (ii) the inauguration in 2018 of the Entrepreneurs’ Training Centre (CEE), with the objective of providing guidance and increasing entrepreneurial skills to build sustainable enterprises or businesses, by promoting formalization of self-employment and enterprises, through mentoring, training, technical assistance and leveraging other actors of the national and international entrepreneurial system. The Committee notes the adoption in 2019 of the National Promotion and Formalization Plan for Developing and Increasing the Competitivity of MSMEs, 2018–23, which includes among its five cross-cutting objectives the simplification of procedures to formalize MSMEs. Regarding measures adopted under the national employment policy to facilitate the transition to the formal economy in rural areas, the Committee notes that Decree No. 3678/20 of 2020, which regulates Act No. 5446/2015 on public policies for rural women, provides for: (i) the implementation of employment formalization programmes in rural areas, such as the inclusion of women workers in the social security system (IPS); (ii) the formulation of occupational training courses; (iii) the creation of first job policies for young rural women; and (iv) the provision of information on the voluntary inclusion of independent rural women workers in the IPS Social Security – Retirement and Pensions Fund. The Committee notes that the CUT-A stresses that no progress has been made regarding the informal economy. The Committee observes that the phenomenon of informality is related to the level of social and economic development and that there is a clear correlation between poverty and informality, as informal economy workers are frequently in a situation of poverty or extreme poverty. In many developing countries, a large part of the labour force is employed informally, often for their own account, but also as occasional workers, home workers, or domestic workers. In this connection, the Committee stresses how important it is that public policies addressing factors leading to informality include macroeconomic policies favourable to employment that support aggregate demand, productive investment and structural transformation to create formal employment, together with strengthened social security systems. It further highlights the importance of consulting the representatives of the social partners and persons working in the rural sector and the informal economy. Adapting policy support to the most affected and vulnerable groups in the informal economy, including women and young persons, will be crucial in the period following the COVID-19 crisis. Where a large part of the workforce works in the informal economy, it is essential that informal and rural workers’ associations, where they exist, take part in the elaboration of national employment policy with a view to fixing its primary objective: to ensure access to high quality and productive employment for the greatest number of persons under conditions that allow them to escape from poverty. Noting the importance of an integrated strategy for the formalization of employment and for social security, the Committee requests the Government to provide detailed and updated information on the measures adopted with regard to employment policy and their impact on promoting the transition from the informal to the formal economy, in coordination with other public policies including, for example, social protection, education, fiscal and rural development policies.

Coordination of employment policy with economic and social policies. The Government states that the Social Policy of Paraguay, which is part of the National Development Plan (PND) 2030, facilitates coordinated action between the sectoral bodies under the Executive and with the various Government echelons, civil society, the private sector, and with the judicial and legislative authorities. The Ministry for Social Development (MDS) was created in 2018 to design and apply policies, plans, programmes and projects relating to development and social equity through coordinated, inter-institutional action aimed at reducing inequalities and improving the quality of life of vulnerable populations and those living in poverty. In its previous comment, the Committee noted the implementation of the “Tekopora” cash transfer programme with co-responsibility, and of the “Tenoderã” programme to support socioeconomic inclusion. The Government reports that these programmes continue to operate: “Tekopora” covered 166,164 families during the first two months of 2022, of which 85 per cent were headed by women, with 80 per cent of the homes located in rural areas. The “Tenonderã” programme, operating in 14 departments, provided seed capital to 9,331 families in 2021; 83 per cent of the families were headed by women and 17 per cent headed by men. The Committee also notes from the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for the Human rights Council Universal Periodic Review, dated 1 March 2021, that “the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) was concerned by reports of the precarious working conditions faced by many indigenous people, in particular on farms in the Chaco region” (A/HRC/WG.6/38/PRY/2, paragraph 33). The Committee observes that, in the context of planning national employment policies, coordination between the various parties concerned and between employment objectives and other economic and social objectives, as provided under Article 1(3) of the Convention, is essential, but can prove complicated due to differences of opinion. It also observes that the ILO has supported the creation of employment committees, informal consultations and drafting groups to promote coordination and that some countries have made use of existing structures, such as inter-ministerial committees, while others have established ad hoc committees to design national employment policies. The Committee emphasizes that, if the coordination is to be effective, the committees must be tripartite and inter-ministerial and must have power of decision. They must involve different ministries, including finance, planning and other sectors, as well as employers’ and workers’ organizations, civil society and development partners. The participation of influential bodies, such as national labour advisory committees or economic and social councils, has been beneficial in many countries. The Committee also emphasizes that high-level representation, including government leaders, can promote cooperation between the parties concerned. Recalling that the Convention establishes the objective of employment policy to be stimulating economic growth and development, raising levels of living, meeting manpower requirements and overcoming unemployment and underemployment, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures adopted or envisaged to give full, productive and freely chosen employment a preponderant place in all growth and development strategies, in particular those concerning members of the indigenous peoples. The Committee also requests the Government to indicate the impact of cash transfer and seed capital programmes and initiatives referred to above.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.