Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1994, published 81st ILC session (1994)

1. The Committee notes the Government's report for the period ending June 1992. In its report, the Government states that the gross domestic product recorded a growth of 2 per cent in 1991, which permitted an increase in private savings and investment, as well as the renegotiation and reduction of the external debt. Prices were totally freed in order to allow them to find their real level and therefore stimulate production, particularly in the agricultural sector. According to the Government, the transfer of resources to this latter sector resulted in an increase in the level of employment. Furthermore, loans were provided for small and medium-sized enterprises with a view to increasing production and productivity and promoting the creation of jobs in family enterprises. The Government also refers to the new legislation on investment which it hopes will lead to the direct creation of 70,000 jobs and to the indirect creation of 200,000 other jobs during the period 1993-97. The data available to the ILO, together with the growth in GDP, point to the maintenance of a particularly high rate of inflation (estimated at 32 per cent for 1991) and a substantial budgetary deficit, while the prices of basic food increased substantially and the structural adjustment measures which have been implemented since 1990 have had a high social cost in terms of increased unemployment and poverty.

2. The Committee recalls that in its 1992 observation it expressed concern that account should be taken, in the context of the financial stabilization and adjustment programme, of the need to encourage an equitable distribution of the social costs and benefits of structural adjustment. It notes in this respect the information concerning the activities of the Honduran Social Investment Fund (FHIS), which was established in cooperation with PREALC, with a view in particular to the formulation of labour-intensive projects. The funds from the various donors have covered the financing of over 400 small-scale projects. The Government states in its report that around 480,000 people have benefited from the projects implemented by the FHIS. The Committee trusts that the Government will supply more detailed information in its next report on the situation, level and trends of employment, unemployment and underemployment and will report the results achieved by the measures undertaken to encourage the productive employment of categories of workers who frequently experience difficulties in obtaining lasting employment. More generally, the Committee also requests the Government to describe the principal policies pursued with a view to promoting full and productive employment, with an indication of the extent to which the employment objectives set out in development plans and programmes have been or are being achieved (please refer in this respect to the questions in the report form under Article 1 of the Convention).

3. In reply to the comments made in the observation of 1992, the Government states that the level of employment depends on macroeconomic policy and the rate at which production grows. It adds that, in the case of Honduras, the question of employment has to be seen in the perspective of the changing structure of employment resulting from the increase in productivity. With reference to Article 2 of the Convention and to the obligation to "decide on and keep under review, within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy", the measures to be adopted to attain the objectives of full, productive and freely chosen employment, the Committee requests the Government to describe in its next report the procedures which have been taken to guarantee that the measures which are taken with a view to promoting economic development and other economic and social objectives contribute to the attainment of employment objectives in the sense set out in the Convention.

4. With regard to the consultations required under Article 3, the Government states that the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance consults the workers on their expectations in the field of employment policy and that both the impact of the changing conditions of production on the capacity to absorb labour and the salary fluctuations are analysed jointly. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply information in its next report on the manner in which, in relation to employment policy, the experience and views expressed by employers' and workers' organizations are taken into account. Please also indicate whether formal or informal procedures have been established, or are envisaged, in order to hold the consultations required by this fundamental provision of the Convention with the representatives of other sectors of the active population, such as those working in the rural sector and the informal sector.

5. The Committee notes with interest the adoption in March 1991 of the Act respecting employment promotion for persons with disabilities, which makes it compulsory for the public administration and private enterprises to recruit a prescribed number of workers with disabilities, and also provides for the establishment and development of special sheltered employment centres, cooperatives, micro-enterprises and other employment opportunities for persons with disabilities. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply information in its next report on the results achieved by the various measures which have been adopted to respond to the needs of persons with disabilities (point 2 of the report form under Article 1). The Government could also find it helpful to refer to the ILO's 1983 instruments on vocational rehabilitation and the employment of persons with disabilities (Convention No. 159 and Recommendation No. 168).

6. In a direct request, the Committee requests the Government to supply additional information on the action taken as a result of the technical cooperation activities of the ILO and PREALC, and on other aspects related to the application of the Convention (the activities of the National Vocational Training Institute, employment in the rural sector and the public sector).