Malaysia emerged as the largest recipient of Vietnamese guest workers (with 23,515), followed by Taiwan (18,448), the Republic of Korea (10,158), Qatar (4,521), Japan (3,476) and Macao (1,804). 

The Middle East – the traditional labour market

The Middle East is one of Vietnam’s traditional labour markets in the construction sector. Due to the lack of a local labour force, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar have to recruit employees from overseas, including those from Vietnam. In addition, countries in Arabia such as Bahrain and Oman have recently emerged as Vietnam’s labour markets.

Dao Cong Hai, Deputy Head of the Overseas Labour Management Department says that Vietnam has sent many guest workers to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Libya recently signed a contract to recruit 4,300 Vietnamese engineers, supervisors, welders and builders.

According to Mr Hai, Vietnamese enterprises seek and sign labour export contracts with their counterparts based on agreements reached between Vietnam and these countries.

In the UAE, Vietnamese guest workers enjoy a monthly salary of between VND5-7 million, which is higher than in Malaysia and Taiwan. In addition, they are not charged any tax.

Nguyen Xuan Vui, director of the Trade and Labour Export Centre under the Vietnam Air Service Supplies Co. (Airserco), says that so far this year his centre has sent nearly 2,000 workers to the Middle East in the areas of construction, hotel services and welding, with 70 percent of them working in the construction sector. In the fourth quarter of this year, Mr Vui says that the centre is recruiting more builders to send to Dubai and Qatar, adding that it will offer free training for unskilled workers before they leave Vietnam.

Mr Vui says that his centre’s counterparts often come to Vietnam to directly recruit and test Vietnamese workers’ skills to offer appropriate salaries. 

The Czech Republic - a lucrative market 

The Czech Republic has a great demand for skilled welders, construction and textile workers. The republic is considered a good market for Vietnamese workers as it has a fine climate and offers good working conditions, free accommodation and high salaries ranging between US$550-800/person/month, excluding extra work.

In Vietnam, only Vinamoto, Simco and Airserco are permitted to send workers to the Czech Republic. After they were licensed in 2006, the three enterprises have so far sent 400 workers under three-year labour contracts to this market.

Director Nguyen Xuan Vui says that his centre will continue to recruit more workers for the growing market while seeking to prevent the workers from breaking their contracts illegally.  

Toward sending highly skilled workers

As the living conditions of workers improve domestically, many are seeking high-income markets overseas. This requires labour export businesses to make big inroads into other markets to meet with workers’ demands for salaries and skill levels.

Nguyen Luong Trao, president of the Vietnam Labour Export Association says that Vietnam should increase its ratio of highly skilled guest workers abroad, which is expected to reach 65-70 percent by 2010 and even higher in the following years.