Vietnam sends over 54 thousand workers abroad in Jan-May

Some 54,100 Vietnamese laborers were sent abroad in the first five months of 2019, up 12.02% against the same period last year, according to latest data of the Vietnam Association of Manpower Supply (VAMAS), local media reported.

In May alone, 12,419 Vietnamese workers got a pass to work overseas, an increase of 32.37% compared to April.

In terms of region, Northeast Asia received the highest number of Vietnamese workers, 52,136, increasing by 13.79% year-on-year.

 Among them, Taiwan (China) remained the largest recipient of Vietnamese workers, with 39.76% of total employees. On average, this market received 4,146 employees per month year to date.

 The number of workers sent to Japan increased 63.02% compared to the same period last year. On average, each month, enterprises provide this market with 5,678 employees. Notably, the number of female employees working in Japan is 1.82 times the number of female workers working in Taiwan.

 In the South Korean market, the number of fresh Vietnamese workers increased by 6.72% year-on-year. Meanwhile, Macao received 5.19% fewer Vietnamee laborers compared to the same period last year.

 In the first five months of the year, 259 Vietnamese workers were sent to Southeast Asia, accounting for 0.48% of the total. Malaysia remained the country receiving the most Vietnamese workers with 83.39% of the total workers sent to this region. On average, the Southeast Asian market receives 43 Vietnamese employees per month.

 In the Middle East and Africa, the number of employees received in the first five months were 625. The five main regional markets were Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Oman and Kuwait. The number of workers sent to African countries was 229, but Algeria was the only labor receiver.

 For the European region, the total number of Vietnamese worker were 833 people, mainly concentrated in countries such as Cyprus, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Belarus, Poland and Italy. Currently, all of them have stable jobs and good incomes.

 In some other markets, labor reception is negligible, with only 0.05% of the total workers sent to the markets. The United States received 17 employees and Australia only needed two people.

 According to the VAMAS, in the first five months of 2019, Vietnamese workers were sent to 25 markets, up four compared to the first five months of 2018. However, only four markets recruited more than 500 Vietnamese workers, namely Taiwan, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Romania.

 The largest labor market share focuses on countries and territories in Northeast Asia. The VAMAS forecasts in the coming months, these markets will continue to receive Vietnamese workers, especially Taiwan and Japan, which currently receive the most Vietnamese employees, accounting for nearly 91% of the total in the past five months.

 According to the report titled "Finance for sustainable development in Vietnam" by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 2018, Vietnam was one of the top 10 countries to receive the most remittances in the world. Of the total remittances in Vietnam, the United States is the largest source, accounting for 55%, followed by Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the Republic of Korea (RoK).

 The main groups sending remittances to Vietnam are overseas Vietnamese and export workers. The overseas Vietnamese settling in the US, Canada, Germany and France account for the majority of 80-90% of the total remittances.

 Labor export accounts for a small proportion of 6-7% of total remittances, but is increasing with the rapid increase in labor export to countries like Japan and the RoK.