R176 Employment Promotion and Protection against
Unemployment Recommendation, 1988
RECOMMENDATION CONCERNING EMPLOYMENT PROMOTION AND PROTECTION
AGAINST UNEMPLOYMENT
Recommendation:R176
Place: Geneva
Session of the Conference:75
Date of adoption=21:06:1988
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 Seventy-fifth Session on 1
June 1988, and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with
regard to employment promotion and social security which is the fifth item on
the agenda of the session, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form
of a Recommendation supplementing the Employment Promotion and Protection
against Unemployment Convention, 1988,
adopts this twenty-first day of June of the year one
thousand nine hundred and eighty-eight, the following Recommendation, which may
be cited as the Employment Promotion and Protection against Unemployment
Recommendation, 1988.
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.
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.
Members should endeavour to grant in particular, under
prescribed conditions and in the most appropriate manner, by way of occupational
mobility incentives-
allowances towards the costs of travel and equipment
necessary to take advantage of the services provided for in Paragraph 2 above;
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.
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-
temporary degressive allowances designed to offset,
where appropriate, a reduction in pay as a result of redeployment;
allowances towards travel and removal costs;
separation allowances;
resettlement grants.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
If appropriate, these percentages may be reached by
comparing net periodical payments after tax and contributions with net earnings
after tax and contributions.
The concept of suitable employment should, under
prescribed conditions, not apply to-
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;
employment involving a change of residence to a place in
which suitable accommodation is not available;
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:
employment vacant as a direct result of a stoppage due
to an ongoing labour dispute;
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.
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.
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.
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.
Members should endeavour to protect workers who are
experiencing hardship in a waiting period.
The following provisions should be applicable, as
appropriate, to the categories of persons mentioned in Article 26, paragraph 1,
of the Convention:
in cases of full unemployment, the benefit may be
calculated in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of the Convention;
the qualifying period should be adapted or waived, under
prescribed conditions, for certain of the categories of persons newly seeking
work;
when benefit is provided without a qualifying period-
the waiting period may be increased to a prescribed
length;
the duration of payment of benefit may be limited under
prescribed conditions notwithstanding the provision of Article 19, paragraph 1,
of the Convention.
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.
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.
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-
for acquisition of the right to and, where appropriate,
calculation of disability, old-age and survivors' benefit, and
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.
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-
the minimum hours of work and minimum earnings necessary
for the entitlement to benefits under the basic and supplementary schemes;
maximum earnings for the calculation of contributions;
the qualifying period for entitlement to benefit;
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;
entitlement to non-reduced minimum benefits and
flat-rate benefits, in particular family allowances.
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.
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.
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.
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-
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;
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
