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Submitted by ctv_en_4 on Wed, 04/26/2006 - 19:00
Job generation is still a thorny issue for Vietnam as every year more than 1 million young people join the labour force, while the unemployment rate remains high, particularly in rural areas, where up to 56.8 percent of labourers live on agricultural production. The Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs (MoLISA) is seeking to improve the labour market.

In its report to the 10th National Party Congress, MoLISA said investment in human resource development is one of Vietnam’s top priorities to allow the country to develop its human resources to their full potential in order to encourage production development, generate new jobs and increase the quality of the labour force.

In addition to the promulgation of economics-related laws such as the Investment Law, the Enterprise Law and the Commerce Law, the report said the Labour Code and related by-law documents helped create an equal playing field for all economic sectors to generate more jobs, and focus on the development of services. Thanks to such efforts, Vietnam has gradually reduced the unemployment rate in urban areas, created new jobs in rural areas and increased the efficiency and quality of employment programmes as well as labourers’ incomes.

Between 2001-2005, Vietnam generated more than 7.5 million jobs, trained 5.3 million labourers at vocational schools and sent 295,000 experts and labourers to work abroad under short-term work contracts. Currently, more than 400,000 Vietnamese guest workers are working in 40 countries and territories, and every year they remit between US$1.5-1.6 billion to the homeland.

The unemployment rate in urban areas dropped from 6.28 percent in 2001 to 5.31 percent in 2005. Vocational training activities have been restored and developed rapidly following increasing demand from the labour market. By the end of last year, Vietnam had 236 vocational training schools, 404 vocational training centres and more than 1,000 units involved in vocational training activities, thus boosting vocational training activities in provinces. Every year, more than 1.2 million people enroll in vocational training courses, 20 percent of which register to take part in long-term training courses. The labour market has been developing, particularly in key economic regions. By 2005, State employees accounted for approximately 25.6 percent (about 11 million out of 44 million labourers).

However, the demand for jobs from labourers, especially young people, is a major concern. Annually, more than 1 million young people reach working age and seek jobs. The unemployment rate among young people has remained high, reaching 13.4 percent in 2005 (for people aged between 15-24). In addition, labour restructuring activities are occurring at a slow pace. Currently, the proportion of labourers working in the agricultural sector accounts for 56.8 percent. Productivity is very low, ranging from two to 15 times lower than some other ASEAN-member countries. The investment level for a job is also very low, making up VND43 million/labourer in the private sector, VND137 million/labourer in the State-owned sector, and VND274 million/labourer in the foreign-invested sector. The number of trained workers makes up only 19 percent of the total, creating a severe shortage of skilled workers. Furthermore, the labour market is developing at a slow space, and is different among regions, so the chance of hiring Vietnamese workers is not high.

According to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, it is necessary to make amendments to the Labour Code in accordance with the country’s socio-economic development. It is also important to formulate some draft laws on social insurance, vocational training, labour import-export, and strike and strike-related dispute.  It is also necessary to formulate a mechanism to encourage employers to attract a lot of labourers, organise national programmes on employment and increase the proportion of labour exports through vocational training.

The State should issue policies to encourage all economic sectors to participate in settling and generating employment through attracting capital from local and foreign organisations. There should be preferential policies for businesses that use labour. It is important to increase the investment level for a labourer, apply modern technology in production and business, use high-skilled workers and create advantages for Vietnamese labourers in the market.

In addition, while the State maps out an overall socio-economic development plan, as well as development plans for export processing zones, industrial zones and urban areas, it is necessary to attach great importance to investment in order to generate jobs, provide vocational training and create new jobs for farmers.

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