R176 - Employment Promotion and Protection against Unemployment Recommendation, 1988 (No. 176)

I. General Provisions

1. 1. In this Recommendation-
   • (a) the term legislation includes any social security rules as well as laws and regulations;
   • (b) the term prescribed means determined by or in virtue of national legislation;
   • (c) the term the Convention means the Employment Promotion and Protection against Unemployment Convention, 1988.

II. Promotion of Productive Employment

1. 2. The promotion of full, productive and freely chosen employment by all appropriate means, including through social security, should be a priority objective of national policy. Such means should include, inter alia, employment services, vocational training and vocational guidance.
2. 3. In periods of economic crisis, adjustment policies should include, under prescribed conditions, measures to encourage initiatives which involve the maximum use of labour on a large scale.
3. 4. Members should endeavour to grant in particular, under prescribed conditions and in the most appropriate manner, by way of occupational mobility incentives-
   • (a) allowances towards the costs of travel and equipment necessary to take advantage of the services provided for in Paragraph 2 above;
   • (b) allowances in the form of periodical payments calculated in accordance with the provisions of Article 15 of the Convention for a prescribed period of vocational training or retraining.
4. 5. Members should in addition consider granting in particular, under prescribed conditions and in the most appropriate manner, by way of occupational or geographical mobility incentives-
   • (a) temporary degressive allowances designed to offset, where appropriate, a reduction in pay as a result of redeployment;
   • (b) allowances towards travel and removal costs;
   • (c) separation allowances;
   • (d) resettlement grants.
5. 6. Members should ensure co-ordination of statutory pension schemes and encourage co-ordination of private pension schemes in order to remove barriers to occupational mobility.
6. 7. Members should offer to protected persons, under prescribed conditions, facilities to enable them to engage in remunerated temporary employment without endangering the employment of other workers and with the purpose of improving their own chances of obtaining productive and freely chosen employment.
7. 8. Members should, as far as possible, offer to unemployed persons who wish to set up their own business or take up another economic activity, financial assistance and advisory services under prescribed conditions.
8. 9. Members should give consideration to the conclusion of bilateral and multilateral agreements which provide for assistance to foreign workers protected by their legislation who freely wish to return to the territory of the State of which they are nationals or in which they formerly resided. Where such agreements do not exist, Members should provide, through national legislation, financial assistance to the workers concerned.
9. 10. Members should, in accordance, if appropriate, with provisions in multilateral agreements, invest any reserves accumulated by statutory pension schemes and provident funds in such a way as to promote and not to discourage employment within the country, and encourage such investment from private sources, including private pension schemes, while at the same time affording the necessary guarantees of security and yield of the investment.
10. 11. The progressive introduction in rural and urban areas of community services, including health-care services, financed by social security contributions or by other sources, should lead to increased employment and the provision of training of personnel, while at the same time making a practical contribution to the achievement of national objectives regarding employment promotion.

III. Protection of Unemployed Persons

1. 12. In case of partial unemployment and in the case referred to in Article 10, paragraph 3, of the Convention, benefit should be provided, under prescribed conditions, in the form of periodical payments fairly compensating for the loss of earnings due to unemployment. These benefits might be calculated in the light of the reduction of hours of work suffered by the unemployed persons or so that the total of the benefit and the earnings from the part-time work reaches a sum between the amount of the previous earnings from full-time work and the amount of the full unemployment benefit, so as not to discourage part-time or temporary work, when these forms of work may assist in a return to full-time work.
2. 13.
   • (1) The percentages specified in Article 15 of the Convention for the calculation of benefits should be reached on the basis of the gross earnings of the beneficiary before tax and social security contributions.
   • (2) If appropriate, these percentages may be reached by comparing net periodical payments after tax and contributions with net earnings after tax and contributions.
3. 14.
   • (1) The concept of suitable employment should, under prescribed conditions, not apply to-
     • (a) employment involving a change of occupation which does not take account of the abilities, qualifications, skills, work experience or the retraining potential of the person concerned;
     • (b) employment involving a change of residence to a place in which suitable accommodation is not available;
     • (c) employment in which the conditions and remuneration are appreciably less favourable than those which are generally granted, at the relevant time, in the occupation and district in which the employment is offered:
     • (d) employment vacant as a direct result of a stoppage due to an ongoing labour dispute;
     • (e) employment such that, for a reason other than those covered in clauses (a) to (d), and with due regard to all attendant circumstances, including the family responsibilities of the person concerned, the refusal of the employment is not unreasonable.
   • (2) In assessing the criteria specified in clauses (a) to (c) and (e) above, account should be taken in general of the age of the unemployed persons, of their length of service in their former occupation, of their acquired experience, of the duration of their unemployment, of the state of the labour market and of the repercussions of the employment on their personal and family situations.
4. 15. If an unemployed person has agreed to accept, for a prescribed maximum period, temporary employment which cannot be regarded as suitable within the meaning of Paragraph 14 above, or part-time employment in the circumstances covered in Article 10, paragraph 3, of the Convention, the level and duration of unemployment benefit paid at the end of such employment should not be adversely affected by the earnings of the unemployed person from that employment.
5. 16. Members should endeavour to extend progressively the application of their legislation concerning unemployment benefit to cover all employees. However, public employees whose employment up to normal retirement age is guaranteed by national laws or regulations may be excluded from protection.
6. 17. Members should endeavour to protect workers who are experiencing hardship in a waiting period.
7. 18. The following provisions should be applicable, as appropriate, to the categories of persons mentioned in Article 26, paragraph 1, of the Convention:
   • (a) in cases of full unemployment, the benefit may be calculated in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of the Convention;
   • (b) the qualifying period should be adapted or waived, under prescribed conditions, for certain of the categories of persons newly seeking work;
   • (c) when benefit is provided without a qualifying period-
     • (i) the waiting period may be increased to a prescribed length;
     • (ii) the duration of payment of benefit may be limited under prescribed conditions notwithstanding the provision of Article 19, paragraph 1, of the Convention.
8. 19. When the duration of payment of benefit is limited by national legislation, it should be extended, under prescribed conditions, until pensionable age for unemployed persons who have reached a prescribed age prior to the pensionable age.
9. 20. Members whose legislation provides for the rights to medical care and makes it directly or indirectly conditional upon occupational activity should endeavour to ensure, under prescribed conditions, the provision of medical care to unemployed persons, including, if possible, those who are not in receipt of unemployment benefit, and to their dependants.
10. 21. Members should endeavour to guarantee to persons in receipt of unemployment benefit, under prescribed conditions, that the periods during which benefits are paid will be taken into consideration-
    • (a) for acquisition of the right to and, where appropriate, calculation of disability, old-age and survivors' benefit, and
    • (b) for acquisition of the right to medical care and sickness, maternity and family benefit after the end of unemployment, when the legislation of the Member concerned provides for such benefits and makes them directly or indirectly conditional upon occupational activity.
11. 22. Members should endeavour to make adjustments of statutory social security schemes which are based on occupational activity to the occupational circumstances of part-time workers. Such adjustments, provided for in Article 25 of the Convention, should relate in particular, under prescribed conditions to-
    • (a) the minimum hours of work and minimum earnings necessary for the entitlement to benefits under the basic and supplementary schemes;
    • (b) maximum earnings for the calculation of contributions;
    • (c) the qualifying period for entitlement to benefit;
    • (d) the methods of calculating cash benefits, in particular pensions, on the basis of earnings and of the length of the period of contribution, insurance or occupational activity;
    • (e) entitlement to non-reduced minimum benefits and flat-rate benefits, in particular family allowances.
12. 23. Members should endeavour to promote a real understanding of the hardships of unemployed persons, particularly those who have been unemployed for a long period, and their need for sufficient income.

IV. Development and Improvement of Systems of Protection

1. 24. Since the systems of protection for the unemployed of some Members are in the early stages of development and others may have to consider changes to existing schemes in the light of changing needs, a variety of approaches may legitimately be taken in assisting the unemployed, and Members should give high priority to a full and frank exchange of information on programmes of assistance for the unemployed.
2. 25. With a view to reaching at least the standards laid down in Part IV (Unemployment Benefit) of the Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952, Members which intend to develop their system of protection against unemployment should be guided, in so far as is possible and appropriate, by the following provisions.
3. 26.
   • (1) Members should be aware of the technical and administrative difficulties involved in the planning and introduction of social security mechanisms for the compensation of unemployment. In order to introduce forms of unemployment compensation through the payment of benefits of a non-discretionary nature, they should seek to meet the following conditions as soon as possible-
     • (a) the introduction and satisfactory operation of a free public employment service containing a network of employment offices and having acquired sufficient administrative capacity to collect and analyse information on the employment market, to register job offers and jobseekers and to verify objectively that persons are involuntarily unemployed;
     • (b) a reasonable level of coverage by and extensive experience in the administration of other branches of social security deemed to have priority on social and economic grounds, such as primary health care and compensation for employment accidents.
   • (2) Members should, as a major priority, seek to meet the conditions set out in subparagraph (1) above by promoting a sufficiently high level of stable employment offering adequate wages and working conditions, in particular through necessary and appropriate measures, such as vocational guidance and training, to facilitate voluntary matching of skills on the labour market to available job vacancies.
   • (3) The co-operation and technical advice of the International Labour Office should continue to be put to good advantage in supporting any initiative taken by Members in this respect in cases where there is insufficient national expertise.
   • (4) When the conditions specified in subparagraph (1) above are met, Members should, as rapidly as their resources permit, and if necessary in stages, introduce programmes for the protection of the unemployed, including social security mechanisms for the compensation of unemployment.
4. 27. In cases where the conditions referred to in Paragraph 26(1) are not met, Members should give priority to special assistance measures for the most needy unemployed persons, to the extent permitted by the available resources and in the context of national conditions.
5. 28. Members which have set up a national provident fund might examine the possibility of authorising the payment of periodical cash benefits to the holders of accounts whose earnings are interrupted by long-term unemployment and whose family situation is precarious in order to provide for their essential needs. The level of this benefit and the period during which it is payable might be limited according to the circumstances, in particular the amount credited to the account.
6. 29. Members might also encourage employers' and workers' organisations to set up assistance funds at the enterprise or inter-enterprise level. These could advantageously be introduced in the enterprises and sectors of activity which have sufficient economic capacity.
7. 30. Members whose laws or regulations require employers to make severance payments to workers who have lost their jobs should envisage making provision for the employers to bear this responsibility in common through the creation of funds financed by employers' contributions, so as to ensure the receipt of these payments by the workers concerned.