A survey conducted in July 2005 showed that Vietnam had approximately 42 million people of working age, of whom 75 percent lived in rural areas, mostly in the Red and Mekong Deltas. Only 21.2 percent of the total graduated from upper secondary schools and less than a quarter of them attended vocational training schools. With the remaining three-quarters of untrained workers, the competitive capacity of Vietnamese labourers in terms of professional skills was rather low.

This explained why labour costs in Vietnam were still lower than in other countries. How to increase the competitive capacity of the labour force is a thorny issue for Vietnam.

According to the survey, the unemployment rate in the urban areas remained rather high, at 5.7 percent. In fact, job seekers now find it difficult to get a job as the demanding labour market requires high quality labour force. It is imperative that policymakers have to combine socio-economic development plans with vocational training plans in key economic and urban areas.

Employees in the integration process

Currently, approximately 900,000 Vietnamese employees are working in foreign-invested enterprises, excluding large numbers working in other satellite industries. To expand the labour market, Vietnam has so far sent nearly 350,000 employees and experts to work in 40 countries and territories under labour contracts.

Vietnamese employees at foreign-invested enterprises are eager to learn and absorb advanced technology, while helping the country develop key industry and services sectors such as information technology, bio-technology, business, banking and insurance.

However, competition becomes fiercer in the international economic integration. The low competitive capacity of several enterprises, alongside a mass penetration of imports, has made many enterprises run business at a loss, leading to large redundancies or unstable jobs.

The low workmanship is also one of the obstacles to Vietnamese employees seeking stable jobs.

To increase the competitive edge, many enterprises had to reduce production costs and unit prices by increasing working hours and cutting employee salaries and such decision often led to negative consequences.

According to a recent survey conducted by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, many employees had to work from 10 to 12 hours per day. The situation, alongside lax management and implementation of the law, made labour relations more complicated leading to stoppage or strike by employees. The number of strikes has increased significantly in recent years, from 60 in 1995 to 125 in 2004 and 113 in 2005. Up to 80 percent of the strikes occurred at foreign-invested enterprises.

In recent strikes, there were some signs of extreme action, such as destroying enterprise property and causing social disorder and instability. Some strikes even lasted for 12 days, involving tens of thousands of people.

Globalisation and international economic integration is an inevitable trend every nation is following. During the process, there are not only advantages but also challenges for employees. The bottom line is that trade unions should be aware of both opportunities and challenges to renew operations, protect employees’ legitimate rights and interests and help them actively engage in the country’s development process.