The General Conference of the International Labour
Organisation,
Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the
International Labour Office, and having met in its Seventieth Session on 6 June
1984, and
Noting the existing international standards contained in the
Employment Policy Convention and Recommendation, 1964, as well as in other
international labour instruments relating to certain categories of workers, in
particular the Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention and
Recommendation, 1981, the Older Workers Recommendation, 1980, the Migration for
Employment Convention and Recommendation (Revised), 1949, the Migrant Workers
(Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975, and the Migrant Workers
Recommendation, 1975,
Recalling the responsibility of the International Labour
Organisation, resulting from the Declaration of Philadelphia, to examine and
consider the bearing of economic and financial policies upon employment policy
in the light of the fundamental objective that all human beings, irrespective of
race, creed or sex, have the right to pursue both their material well-being and
their spiritual development in conditions of freedom and dignity, of economic
security and equal opportunity,
Recalling that the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in
1966, provides for the recognition of inter alia the right to work, which
includes the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work
which he freely chooses or accepts, and for the taking of appropriate steps to
achieve progressively the full realisation of, and to safeguard, this right,
Recalling also the provisions of the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, adopted by the United
Nations General Assembly in 1979,
Recognising, in the light of increasing interdependence
within the world economy and of low economic growth rates in recent years, the
need to coordinate economic, monetary and social policies at the national and
international levels, to strive for the reduction of disparities between
developed and developing countries and for the establishment of the new
international economic order, in order to make the fullest possible use of
resources for development and for the creation of employment opportunities, and
thus to combat unemployment and underemployment,
Noting the deterioration of employment opportunities in most
industrialised and developing countries and expressing the conviction that
poverty, unemployment and inequality of opportunity are unacceptable in terms of
humanity and social justice, can provoke social tension and thus create
conditions which can endanger peace and prejudice the exercise of the right to
work, which includes free choice of employment, just and favourable conditions
of work and protection against unemployment,
Considering that the Employment Policy Convention and
Recommendation, 1964, should be placed in the wider framework of the Declaration
of Principles and Programme of Action adopted in 1976 by the Tripartite World
Conference on Employment, Income Distribution and Social Progress and the
International Division of Labour, and of the resolution concerning follow-up to
the World Employment Conference adopted by the International Labour Conference
in 1979,
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with
regard to employment policy which is the fourth item on the agenda of the
session, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form
of a Recommendation supplementing the Employment Policy Convention and
Recommendation, 1964:
adopts this twenty-sixth day of June of the year one
thousand nine hundred and eighty-four, the following Recommendation, which may
be cited as the Employment Policy (Supplementary Provisions) Recommendation,
1984.
The promotion of full, productive and freely chosen
employment provided for in the Employment Policy Convention and
Recommendation, 1964, should be regarded as the means of achieving in
practice the realisation of the right to work.
Full recognition by Members of the right to work should
be linked with the implementation of economic and social policies, the
purpose of which is the promotion of full, productive and freely chosen
employment.
The promotion of full, productive and freely chosen
employment should be the priority in, and an integral part of, economic and
social policies of Members and, where appropriate, their plans for the
satisfaction of the basic needs of the population.
Members should give special attention to the most
efficient means of increasing employment and production and draw up policies
and, if appropriate, programmes designed to facilitate the increased
production and fair distribution of essential goods and services and the
fair distribution of income throughout the country, with a view to
satisfying the basic needs of the population in accordance with the
Declaration of Principles and Programme of Action of the World Employment
Conference.
In accordance with national practice, the policies, plans
and programmes referred to in Paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Recommendation
should be drawn up and implemented in consultation and co-operation with the
organisations of employers and workers and other organisations
representative of the persons concerned, particularly those in the rural
sector covered by the Rural Workers' Organisations Convention and
Recommendation, 1975.
Economic and financial policies, at both the national and
international levels, should reflect the priority to be attached to the
goals referred to in Paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Recommendation.
The policies, plans and programmes referred to in
Paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Recommendation should aim at eliminating any
discrimination and ensuring for all workers equal opportunity and treatment
in respect of access to employment, conditions of employment, wages and
income, vocational guidance and training and career development.
Members should take measures to combat effectively
illegal employment, that is employment which does not comply with the
requirements of national laws, regulations and practice.
Members should take measures to enable the progressive
transfer of workers from the informal sector, where it exists, to the formal
sector to take place.
Members should adopt policies and take measures which,
while taking account of national law and practice, should:
facilitate adjustment to structural change at the
global, sectoral and enterprise levels and the re-employment of workers
who have lost their jobs as a result of structural and technological
changes; and
safeguard the employment or facilitate the
re-employment of workers affected in the case of sale, transfer, closure
or relocation of a company, establishment or equipment.
In accordance with national law and practice, the methods
of giving effect to employment policies might include negotiating collective
agreements on questions having a bearing on employment such as-
the promotion and safeguarding of employment;
the economic and social consequences of restructuring
and rationalisation of branches of economic activity and undertakings;
the reorganisation and reduction of working time;
the protection of particular groups; and
information on economic, financial and employment
issues.
Members should, after consultation with the organisations
of employers and workers, take effective measures to encourage multinational
enterprises to undertake and promote in particular the employment policies
set forth in the Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning
Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy, 1977, and to ensure that
negative effects of the investments of multinational enterprises on
employment are avoided and that positive effects are encouraged.
In view of increasing interdependence within the world
economy, Members should, in addition to the measures taken at the national
level, strengthen international co-operation in order to ensure the success
of the fight against unemployment.
While ensuring that sufficient employment
opportunities exist, development and employment policies might, where
appropriate and in accordance with national law and practice, include
population policies and programmes designed to ensure promotion of
family welfare and family planning through programmes of information and
voluntary education on population issues.
Members, particularly developing countries, in
collaboration with both national and international non-governmental
organisations might-
pay particular attention in their population
policies and programmes to educating actual and potential parents on
the benefits of family planning;
in rural areas, increase the number of health
facilities and community centres offering family planning services
and the number of trained personnel to provide these services; and
in urban areas, pay particular attention to the
urgent need to develop appropriate infrastructures and improve
living conditions, especially in slum areas.
III. Employment of Youth and
Disadvantaged Groups and Persons
In the context of an overall employment policy, Members
should adopt measures to respond to the needs of all categories of persons
frequently having difficulties in finding lasting employment, such as
certain women, certain young workers, disabled persons, older workers, the
long-term unemployed and migrant workers lawfully within their territory.
These measures should be consistent with the provisions of international
labour Conventions and Recommendations relating to the employment of these
groups and with the conditions of employment established under national law
and practice.
While taking account of national conditions and in
accordance with national law and practice, the measures referred to in
Paragraph 15 of this Recommendation might include, inter alia:
general education accessible to all and vocational
guidance and training programmes to assist these persons to find work
and to improve their employment opportunities and their income;
the creation of a training system linked with both
the educational system and the world of work;
counselling and employment services to assist
individuals to enter the labour market and to help them to find
employment which corresponds to their skills and aptitudes;
programmes which create gainful employment in
specific regions, areas or sectors;
programmes of adjustment to structural change;
measures of continuing training and retraining;
measures of vocational rehabilitation;
assistance for voluntary mobility; and
programmes for the promotion of self-employment and
workers' co-operatives.
Other special measures should be taken for young
people. In particular-
public and private institutions and undertakings
should be encouraged to engage and to train young people by means
appropriate to national conditions and practice;
although priority should be given to integrating
young persons into regular employment, special programmes might be
set up with a view to employing young people on a voluntary basis
for the execution of community projects, in particular local
projects having a social character, bearing in mind the provisions
of the Special Youth Schemes Recommendation, 1970;
special programmes should be set up in which
training and work alternate so as to assist young people in finding
their first job;
training opportunities should be adapted to
technical and economic development and the quality of training
should be improved;
measures should be taken to ease the transition
from school to work and to promote opportunities for employment on
completion of training;
research on employment prospects should be
promoted as a basis for a rational vocational training policy; and
the safety and health of young workers should be
protected.
The measures referred to in subparagraph (1) of this
Paragraph should be carefully monitored to ensure that they result in
beneficial effects on young people's employment.
These measures should be consistent with the
provisions of international labour Conventions and Recommendations
relating to the employment of young persons and with the conditions of
employment established under national law and practice.
Incentives appropriate to national conditions and
practice might be provided in order to facilitate the implementation of the
measures referred to in Paragraphs 15 to 17 of this Recommendation.
In accordance with national law and practice, full and
timely consultations should be held on the formulation, application and
monitoring of the measures and programmes referred to in Paragraphs 15 to 18
of this Recommendation between the competent authorities and the
organisations of employers and workers and other organisations concerned.
One of the major elements of national development policy
should be to facilitate the development of technology as a means of
increasing productive potential and achieving the major development
objectives of creation of employment opportunities and the satisfaction of
basic needs. Technology policies should, taking into account the stage of
economic development, contribute to the improvement of working conditions
and reduction of working time, and include measures to prevent loss of jobs.
Members should:
encourage research on the selection, adoption and
development of new technologies and on their effects on the volume and
structure of employment, conditions of employment, training, job content
and skill requirements; and
encourage research on the technologies most
appropriate to the specific conditions of countries, by ensuring the
involvement of independent research institutes.
Members should endeavour to ensure by appropriate
measures-
that the education and training systems, including
schemes for retraining, offer workers sufficient opportunities for
adjusting to altered employment requirements resulting from
technological change;
that particular attention is given to the best
possible use of existing and future skills; and
that negative effects of technological changes on
employment, working and living conditions and on occupational safety and
health are eliminated to the extent possible, in particular through the
incorporation of ergonomic, safety and health considerations at the
design stage of new technologies.
Members should, through all methods suited to national
conditions and practice, promote the use of appropriate new technologies and
assure or improve liaison and consultation between the different units and
organisations concerned with these questions and the representative
organisations of employers and workers.
The organisations of employers and workers concerned and
undertakings should be encouraged to assist in the dissemination of general
information on technological choices, in the promotion of technological
linkages between large-scale and small-scale undertakings and in the setting
up of relevant training programmes.
In accordance with national practice, Members should
encourage employers' and workers' organisations to enter into collective
agreements at national, sectoral or undertaking levels on the social
consequences of the introduction of new technologies.
Members should, as far as possible and in accordance with
national law and practice, encourage undertakings, when introducing into
their operations technological changes which are liable to have major
effects upon workers in the undertaking-
to associate workers and/or their representatives in
the planning, introduction and use of new technologies, that is to
inform them of the opportunities offered by and the effects of such new
technologies and to consult them in advance with a view to arriving at
agreements;
to promote a better organisation of working time and
a better distribution of employment;
to prevent and mitigate to the greatest extent
practicable any adverse effects of the technological changes on workers;
and
to promote investments in technology that would
encourage, directly or indirectly, the creation of employment and
contribute to a progressive increase in production and the satisfaction
of the basic needs of the population.
National employment policy should recognise the
importance as a provider of jobs of the informal sector, that is
economic activities which are carried on outside the institutionalised
economic structures.
Employment promotion programmes should be elaborated
and implemented to encourage family work and independent work in
individual workshops, both in urban and rural areas.
Members should take measures to promote complementary
relationships between the formal and informal sectors and to provide greater
access of undertakings in the informal sector to resources, product markets,
credit, infrastructure, training facilities, technical expertise and
improved technologies.
While taking measures to increase employment
opportunities and improve conditions of work in the informal sector,
Members should seek to facilitate its progressive integration into the
national economy.
Members should take into account that integration of
the informal sector into the formal sector may reduce its ability to
absorb labour and generate income. Nevertheless, they should seek
progressively to extend measures of regulation to the informal sector.
National employment policy should take account of the
importance of small undertakings as providers of jobs, and recognise the
contribution of local employment creation initiatives to the fight against
unemployment and to economic growth. These undertakings, which can take
diverse forms, such as small traditional undertakings, co-operatives and
associations, offer employment opportunities, especially for workers who
have particular difficulties.
After consultation and in co-operation with employers'
and workers' organisations, Members should take the necessary measures to
promote complementary relationships between the undertakings referred to in
Paragraph 30 of this Recommendation and other undertakings, to improve
working conditions in these undertakings, and to improve their access to
product markets, credit, technical expertise and advanced technology.
In accordance with national law and practice, Members
should recognise the importance of balanced regional development as a means
of mitigating the social and employment problems created by the unequal
distribution of natural resources and the inadequate mobility of the means
of production, and of correcting the uneven spread of growth and employment
between regions and areas within a country.
Measures should be taken, after consultation and in
co-operation with the representatives of the populations concerned and in
particular with the organisations of employers and workers, with a view to
promoting employment in underdeveloped or backward areas, declining
industrial and agricultural areas, frontier zones and, in general, parts of
the country which have not benefited satisfactorily from national
development.
Taking account of national conditions and of each
Member's plans and programmes, the measures referred to in Paragraph 33 of
this Recommendation might include, inter alia-
creating and developing growth poles and growth
centres with good prospects for generating employment;
developing and intensifying regional potential taking
into account the human and natural resources of each region and the need
for coherent and balanced regional development;
expanding the number and size of medium-sized and
small towns in order to counterbalance the growth of large cities;
improving the availability and distribution of and
access to essential services required for meeting basic needs;
encouraging the voluntary mobility of workers within
each region and between different regions of the country by appropriate
social welfare measures, while making an effort to promote satisfactory
living and working conditions in their areas of origin;
investing in improvements to the regional
infrastructures, services and administrative structures, including the
allocation of the necessary staff and the provision of training and
retraining opportunities; and
promoting the participation of the community in the
definition and implementation of regional development measures.
VIII. Public Investment and Special
Public Works Programmes
Members might implement economically and socially viable
public investment and special public works programmes, particularly with a
view to creating and maintaining employment and raising incomes, reducing
poverty and better meeting basic needs in areas of widespread unemployment
and underemployment. Such programmes should, where possible and appropriate-
pay special attention to the creation of employment
opportunities for disadvantaged groups;
include rural and urban infrastructure projects as
well as the construction of facilities for basic-needs satisfaction in
rural, urban and suburban areas, and increased productive investments in
sectors such as energy and telecommunications;
contribute to raising the standard of social services
in fields such as education and health;
be designed and implemented within the framework of
development plans where they exist and in consultation with the
organisations of employers and workers concerned;
identify the persons whom the programmes are to
benefit, determine the available manpower and define the criteria for
project selection;
ensure that workers are recruited on a voluntary
basis;
ensure that manpower is not diverted from other
productive activities;
provide conditions of employment consistent with
national law and practice, and in particular with legal provisions
governing access to employment, hours of work, remuneration, holidays
with pay, occupational safety and health and compensation for employment
injuries; and
facilitate the vocational training of workers engaged
in such programmes as well as the retraining of those who, because of
structural changes in production and employment, have to change their
jobs.
IX. International Economic Co-Operation
and Employment
Members should promote the expansion of international
trade in order to help one another to attain employment growth. To this end,
they should co-operate in international bodies which are engaged in
facilitating sustainable and mutually beneficial increases in international
trade, technical assistance and investment.
Bearing in mind their responsibilities in relation to
other competent international bodies Members should, with a view to ensuring
the effectiveness of employment policies, adopt the following objectives:
to promote the growth of production and world
trade in conditions of economic stability and growing employment, within
the context of international co-operation for development and on the
basis of equality of rights and mutual advantage;
to recognise that the interdependence between
States, resulting from the increasing integration of the world economy,
should help to create a climate in which States can, wherever
appropriate, define joint policies designed to promote a fair
distribution of the social costs and benefits of structural adjustment
as well as a fairer international distribution of income and wealth, in
such a way as to enable developing countries to absorb the increase in
their labour force, and the developed countries to raise their levels of
employment and reduce the adjustment cost for the workers concerned;
to co-ordinate national policies concerning trade
and structural change and adjustment so as to make possible a greater
participation of developing countries in world industrial production
within an open and fair world trading system, to stabilise commodity
prices at remunerative levels which are acceptable to both producers and
consumers, and to encourage investment in the production and processing
of commodities in developing countries;
to encourage the peaceful resolution of disputes
among nations and negotiated arms reduction agreements which will
achieve security for all nations, as well as the progressive transfer of
expenditure on armaments and the reconversion of the armaments industry
to the production of essential goods and services, especially those
which satisfy the basic needs of the population and the needs of
developing countries;
to seek agreement on concerted action at the
international level with a view to improving the international economic
system, especially in the financial sphere, so as to promote employment
in developed as well as developing countries;
to increase mutual economic and technical
co-operation, especially between countries at different levels of
economic development and with different social and economic systems,
through exchange of experience and the development of complementary
capacities, particularly in the fields of employment and human resources
and the choice, development and transfer of technology in accordance
with mutually accepted law and practice concerning private property
rights;
to create conditions for sustained,
non-inflationary growth of the world economy, and for the establishment
of an improved international monetary system which would lead to the
establishment of the new international economic order; and
to ensure greater stability in exchange rates, a
reduction of the debt burden of developing countries, the provision of
long-term, low-cost financial assistance to developing countries and the
adoption of adjustment policies which promote employment and the
satisfaction of basic needs.
Members should:
promote the transfer of technologies with a view to
enabling developing countries to adopt, on fair and reasonable
commercial terms, those which are most appropriate for the promotion of
employment and the satisfaction of basic needs; and
take appropriate measures for the creation and
maintenance of employment and for the provision of training and
retraining opportunities. Such measures might include the establishment
of national, regional or international readjustment funds for the
purpose of assisting in the positive adjustment of industries and
workers affected by changes in the world economy.
Members, taking account of international labour
Conventions and Recommendations on migrant workers, should, where
international migration takes place, adopt policies designed-
to create more employment opportunities and better
conditions of work in countries of emigration so as to reduce the need
to migrate to find employment; and
to ensure that international migration takes place
under conditions designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen
employment.
Members which habitually or repeatedly admit significant
numbers of foreign workers with a view to employment should, when such
workers come from developing countries, endeavour to co-operate more fully
in the development of such countries, by appropriate intensified capital
movements, the expansion of trade, the transfer of technical knowledge and
assistance in the vocational training of local workers, in order to
establish an effective alternative to migration for employment and to assist
the countries in question in improving their economic and employment
situation.
Members which habitually or repeatedly experience
significant outflows of their nationals for the purpose of employment abroad
should, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with the right of
everyone to leave any country including his own, take measures by means of
legislation, agreements with employers' and workers' organisations, or in
any other manner consistent with national conditions and practice, to
prevent malpractices at the stage of recruitment or departure liable to
result in illegal entry to, or stay or employment in, another country.
Developing emigration countries, in order to facilitate
the voluntary return of their nationals who possess scarce skills, should:
provide the necessary incentives; and
enlist the co-operation of the countries employing
their nationals as well as of the International Labour Office and other
international or regional bodies concerned with the matter.
Members, both countries of employment and countries of
origin, should take appropriate measures to-
prevent abuse in the recruitment of labour for work
abroad;
prevent the exploitation of migrant workers; and
ensure the full exercise of the rights to freedom of
association and to organise and bargain collectively.
Members, both countries of employment and countries of
origin, should, when it is necessary, taking fully into account existing
international labour Conventions and Recommendations on migrant workers,
conclude bilateral and multilateral agreements covering issues such as right
of entry and stay, the protection of rights resulting from employment, the
promotion of education and training opportunities for migrant workers,
social security, and assistance to workers and members of their families
wishing to return to their country of origin.
