GB.267/ESP/4 - Governing Body

ILO is a specialized agency of the United Nations

GB.267/ESP/4 267th Session Geneva, November 1996

Committee on Employment and Social Policy	ESP

FOURTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA

Evaluation of the work and future role of the
Committee on Employment and Social Policy

Introduction

1. At its meeting in March 1996 the Committee on Employment and Social Policy requested a paper evaluating its work and its future role. The context in which its future role could be discussed is related, but by no means restricted, to proposals put forward in the Committee on how to examine the country employment policy reviews that the ILO is to undertake. In this paper the Committee's past work is discussed principally in terms of its impact on Office policies and procedures. The institutional role of the Committee is also reviewed. This paper also treats the Committee on Employment, set up in 1986, as being to all intents and purposes identical with the Committee on Employment and Social Policy into which it was transformed in 1993. In the same light it would appear that some considerations raised in the Governing Body when the Committee was established in 1986 may still be relevant.

Origins of the Committee

2. It will be recalled that, when it adopted the revision of the Employment Policy Recommendation in 1984, the International Labour Conference also adopted a resolution calling on the Governing Body to "make effective arrangements or rearrangements of its working methods to enable it to assess at regular intervals the impact of international and national governmental economic, financial and trade policies on employment levels".⁽¹⁾ Proposals for such a committee were made to the Programme, Financial and Administrative Committee in November 1985.⁽²⁾ The paper submitted to that committee noted that the Committee should review not only the impact of macroeconomic policies on employment, but also, for example, the impact on employment of reductions in working time, the effectiveness of job-creation schemes, or special measures to promote the employment of women or informal-sector employment. It was also noted that the Committee should not duplicate the work of such bodies as the Advisory Committee on Rural Development or the Advisory Committee on Technology, or yet that of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations in respect of the application of the Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122). Furthermore, it was not to overlap with the work of the Programme, Financial and Administrative Committee itself.⁽³⁾ These considerations were repeated when the Committee was transformed following the revision of the procedures and functioning of the Governing Body in 1993.

Terms of reference

3. The Committee received new terms of reference in 1993. However, the 1993 terms of reference differed from those adopted by the Governing Body in November 1986,⁽⁴⁾ which were --

to review the employment situation in the world, with special reference to developing countries, including factors affecting the supply and demand of labour;
to assess the impact of national and international policies and practices on employment levels and job creation, with special reference to their labour and social aspects;
to review and make recommendations on ILO activities in the field of employment, taking into account the work of the relevant specialized bodies of the ILO such as the Advisory Committee on Rural Development and the Advisory Committee on Technology.

4. Both in the Committee discussions and in the Governing Body many government representatives insisted that subparagraph (b) did not give the Committee any right to review national policies without the consent of the government concerned. There was also at that stage hesitation about the kind of international policies that the Committee was expected to assess and the criteria that would be used. However, the outcome of the High-Level Meeting on Employment and Structural Adjustment largely dispelled these concerns.

5. Despite the sensitivities that the discussion of the original terms of reference of the Committee on Employment had given rise to, those adopted for the broader-based Committee on Employment and Social Policy in 1993 seem to have received little discussion. Thus, using a relatively set formula, the new Committee was asked:⁽⁵⁾

to consider, and advise the Governing Body on, ILO policies and activities in the fields of employment; training; enterprise development and cooperatives; industrial relations and labour administration; working conditions and environment; social security; and promotion of equality between women and men in employment.

6. However, it was stressed that the new terms of reference were not to be regarded as exhaustive or legally binding, but were to be regarded as an indication of the Committee's area of work. In any event the specification of the various fields of activity reflected more the Office's departmental structure than an elaboration of the concept of "employment". Furthermore, they only confirmed what was already the case, which was that the Committee's mandate extended beyond the Department dealing principally with employment.

Work of the Committee

7. The Committee's very first substantive discussion concerned two factual and descriptive Office papers, an overview of the employment situation worldwide, and a review and assessment of ILO activities in the field of employment.⁽⁶⁾ Some members specifically observed that reviewing employment trends was one of the Committee's tasks. In the following years, however, only one other paper has been presented to the Committee on this specific subject.⁽⁷⁾ Subsequently a chapter on employment trends and programmes was included in the World Labour Report. The Committee has neither reviewed nor discussed the World Labour Report at any stage. Nor did it discuss the World Employment Report, 1995, although the Governing Body did so, while the Conference Committee on Employment Policies at the 83rd Session (June 1996) of the International Labour Conference considered, as part of its general discussion, a preliminary draft of the World Employment Report, 1996. Discussion of a paper submitted to the Committee in November 1987⁽⁸⁾ laid the framework for future activities in that: (a) the Committee's view that "employment" was not just the responsibility within the Office of the then World Employment Programme was made clear; (b) the absence of tripartite involvement in many employment-related activities undertaken by the Office was seen as a factor impeding their success; and (c) a general preference was stated for a discussion of thematic issues rather than descriptive reviews.

8. The year 1987 also saw the convening of the High-Level Meeting on Employment and Structural Adjustment. This Meeting called on major international organizations, including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the ILO, to assist developing countries in the design and implementation of policies and programmes which took into account the needs and problems of the poor and could be carried out with minimum social cost. The meeting also urged the ILO to remain vigilant in ensuring that full respect for its international labour standards on employment, human rights and tripartism formed an integral part of adjustment policies. (The term "adjustment policies" has subsequently come to be interpreted more broadly as "economic reform policies" independently of whether the country concerned is implementing World Bank or IMF-supported programmes.) The conclusions of the High-Level Meeting considerably enriched the work of the Committee. The Committee received a mandate to impress on other organizations, particularly the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, in so far as their member States were also member States of the ILO, the need for greater awareness, understanding and acceptance of the importance of the ILO's social and labour concerns. Since then the Committee's agenda has regularly included an agenda item concerning follow-up on the High-Level Meeting or relations with the Bretton Woods institutions. While there is no need for any further analysis of the background to the Committee's activities, the proceedings at its meeting in 1989 illustrate a number of points. The Committee then considered a comprehensive paper on adjustment, employment and labour market policies,⁽⁹⁾ which itself was the outcome of interdepartmental efforts. The paper covered issues of wages, productivity and labour mobility, and contained 26 specific areas to which it suggested the Committee might give its attention. Some were later taken up in the paper subsequently prepared on wage policy.⁽¹⁰⁾ Both Vice-Chairmen considered the paper a provocative and challenging report, and it formed the background for the Committee's work over the next few years.

Changes in Office policy and procedures

9. The Committee's activities have naturally been associated with changes within the Office. First, greater attention has been paid to the interaction between different aspects of the employment problem traditionally addressed by different technical departments. This has shown itself in interdepartmental projects, in multi-departmental action programmes and, outside Geneva, in the multidisciplinary nature of the subregional advisory teams. Reference can also be made in this respect to the interdepartmental task force on structural adjustment, employment and training.

10. The second respect in which the Committee's activities may have been instrumental in this regard concerns the ILO's willingness to find a role for itself in the debate on global governance. This can be seen in the enhanced degree of consultation and cooperation with the Bretton Woods institutions and in the preparation of the World Employment Report. This publication is a demonstration of the Office's intention to develop a point of view on world employment issues that embodies the ILO's social and labour concerns and which is widely acknowledged to be of high quality. Reference can also be made to the informal tripartite meetings at the ministerial level on employment held during the International Labour Conference in 1994 and 1995, and to the participation of the Director-General in the Lille "Jobs Summit" of the Group of 7 in April 1996. Linked to this is also the proactive role that the ILO played in the preparations for the World Summit for Social Development. The means of giving effect to the mandate conferred on the ILO by the Social Summit have been discussed in the Governing Body.⁽¹¹⁾ These concern principally country employment policy reviews, first under the aegis of the ACC Task Force on Employment and Sustainable Livelihoods, and later within the ILO's regular programme.

11. However, the Committee can also be credited with having increased sensitivity within the Office to tripartite considerations and to concern with the implementation of international labour standards in the design and implementation of many of its activities. Furthermore, in the work of the Committee the Office has at its disposal a useful forum for the tripartite review and discussion of a number of substantive issues.

The Committee on Employment and Social Policy
and the Governing Body

12. As already noted, the Committee is expected to consider, and advise the Governing Body on, ILO policies and activities concerning employment. However, this role is not always clear. The Committee is not the only means by which the Governing Body receives advice on employment. Furthermore, as has been mentioned, on some issues either the Governing Body discusses employment issues without preliminary consultation of the Committee, or relies on discussions in the Programme, Financial and Administrative Committee, as in the evaluation of programme and budget proposals in the employment and related fields. The Governing Body can act flexibly and set up working parties to tackle issues, such as the social dimensions of the liberalization of world trade, which might otherwise feature on the Committee's agenda (although possibly at the expense of excluding all other discussion). The Governing Body can propose informal ministerial meetings to discuss employment issues, and can also authorize expert meetings and symposia on related subjects. Such symposia can report to the Governing Body through the Committee. But the Committee does not set their agenda and is not asked for its opinion on the subjects on which they are convened. Initially the Committee was to take into account the recommendations of the advisory committees on rural development and technology, which were tripartite but with additional, generally academic, members. Since their abolition there has been no continuing institutional means by which such academic expertise can be passed to the Governing Body.

Future possibilities

13. An extension of the Committee's activities has been proposed, namely that the Committee should discuss individual reviews of the employment policies of given countries. A proposal to extend the time accorded to the Committee at Governing Body sessions was included in the conclusions of the Committee on Employment Policies adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 1996. An alternative, already put to the Committee, is that a synthesis of a number of such reviews, with the main obstacles to employment generation identified separately, should be discussed. The model of the OECD country review procedure is one requiring a considerable input of time and effort by both the examined and the examining country. In view of the concerns expressed when the Committee was first established (see paragraph 3) it is questionable whether governments would find the OECD model acceptable in this respect.

14. Given the range and flexibility of the Committee's activities, it is difficult to suggest thematic items for discussion which, while remaining within the Committee's terms of reference, are substantially different from those considered in the past. No doubt the current range of activities will continue. There are, however, two main areas to which greater consideration could be given:

a report on key substantive aspects of employment policy, as pinpointed by the country employment policy reviews and related activities of the multidisciplinary teams, many of which are carried out in cooperation with other agencies; in this context the Committee could express a view on ILO priorities in the field of employment.
the Committee could provide a forum for discussion on more general and forward-looking topics, which would assist programme development in the future; examples could include policies for combating child labour, reflections on the nature of work and employment relationships in the twenty-first century, and the social responsibility and responsiveness of enterprises in relation to workers, shareholders, customers, suppliers and the community.

15. More generally, the Committee's agenda can be guided by the resolution (and conclusions) concerning employment policies in a global context, adopted by the International Labour Conference at its recent session in June 1996. These stressed certain areas of interest common to countries at all levels of development, including the adaptation of training systems so as to improve supply responses to skill needs, cooperation between the private and public sectors, and between large, small and medium-sized enterprises, to nurture entrepreneurial and management skills, and means of combining employment security and flexibility.

Geneva, 8 October 1996.

Appendix

Agenda of the Committee on Employment and of the
Committee on Employment and Social Policy, 1987-96

Committee on Employment

238th Session, November 1987

Overview of the employment situation in the world (published as World Employment Review, 1988).
Review and assessment of the activities of the ILO in the field of employment.

241st Session, November 1988

Training, retraining and labour mobility.
Options for future employment growth.
Follow-up on the High-Level Meeting on Employment and Structural Adjustment and on the general discussion on rural employment promotion at the 75th Session (1988) of the International Labour Conference.

244th Session, November 1989

A plan of action for training, retraining and labour mobility (second discussion). (A series of policy recommendations and an agenda for action were endorsed by the Governing Body.)
Follow-up on the High-Level Meeting on Employment and Structural Adjustment.
Report of the Tripartite Symposium on Structural Adjustment and Employment in Africa (Nairobi, 16-19 October 1989).
Adjustment, employment and labour market policies.

248th Session, November 1990

Follow-up on the High-Level Meeting on Employment and Structural Adjustment.
Wages, labour costs and their impact on adjustment, employment and growth.

251st Session, November 1991

Possible guidelines on wages, non-wage labour costs and their relation to employment under conditions of structural adjustment. (The Office paper was subsequently published as Wages Policy, 1992.)
Follow-up on the High-Level Meeting on Employment and Structural Adjustment.
Report of the Tripartite Symposium on Structural Adjustment and Employment in Latin America and the Caribbean (Caracas, 12-16 August 1991).
- Possible guidelines on wages, non-wage labour costs and their relation to employment under conditions of structural adjustment.

Social protection, safety nets and structural adjustment.
ILO action on the informal sector (following the discussion of the Report of the Director-General to the Conference in that year).

254th Session, November 1992

Social protection and safety nets.
Training and active labour market policies.
Follow-up on the High-Level Meeting on Employment and Structural Adjustment:
1. Activities of the ILO;
2. Proposals concerning a second High-Level Meeting.

Committee on Employment and Social Policy

258th Session, November 1993

Patterns of employment growth under changing conditions of labour supply and demand.
Active labour market policies in a wider policy context.
Employment and structural adjustment:
1. ILO activities and collaboration with the Bretton Woods institutions and other international organizations in relation to structural adjustment.

4. Effect to be given to resolutions adopted by the International Labour Conference:
- Resolution concerning social protection and the alleviation of unemployment and poverty and the social dimension of structural adjustment and transition to a market economy;
- Resolution concerning exposure to and safety in the use of biological agents at work.

International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 5-13 December 1994).
Report of the Meetings of Experts on Working Time.
Report of the Tripartite Regional Meeting of Experts on Social Security in the Americas (Mexico City, October 1993).

259th Session, March 1994

The employment and social impact of structural adjustment (no paper).
Industrial relations and employment.
The ILO contribution to environmentally sound and sustainable development.
Report of the Tripartite Symposium on Workers' Education and the Environment (Geneva, October 1993).

261st Session, November 1994

The ILO's role in relation to structural adjustment, including collaboration with the Bretton Woods institutions.
The changing role of women in the economy: Employment and social issues.
Report on the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, December 1994).
Other questions:
- Tripartite Seminar on the Socio-Economic Implications of the Devaluation of the CFA Franc for French-speaking African Countries (Dakar, October 1994).

262nd Session, March 1995

Industrial relations and employment.
Report of the Tripartite Meetings of Experts on the Management of Drug and Alcohol Problems in the Workplace (Geneva, January 1995).
Report of the Tripartite Meetings of Experts on Social Security and Social Protection: Equality of Treatment between Men and Women (Geneva, November 1994).

264th Session, November 1995

Child labour
Recent developments concerning cooperation with the Bretton Woods institutions.
Report of the Meeting of Experts on Cooperative Law (Geneva, 22-26 May 1995).

265th Session, March 1996

ILO action on country employment policy reviews.
International migration and migrant workers.
Other business:
- ILO participation in the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II, Istanbul, June 1996).

1. International Labour Conference, 70th Session (1984), Record of Proceedings, p. 32/28.

2. A Committee on Employment and then a Committee on Employment and Manpower in fact existed from 1944-60.

3. GB.231/PFA/8/4.

4. GB.234/19/19, para. 78.

5. GB.257/2/9, para. 14.

6. A list of all the Committee's agenda items since 1987 is attached.

7. Patterns of employment growth, GB.258/ESP/1/4.

8. Review and assessment of ILO activities in the field of employment, GB.238/CE/2/2.

9. GB.244/CE/4/3.

10. Possible guidelines on wages, non-wage labour costs and their relation to employment under conditions of structural adjustment, GB.251/CE/1/4.

11. GB.264/5.

Updated by VC. Approved by NdW. Last update: 26 January 2000.