Labour export is now considered one of important measures to solve the problem of redundant workers in rural areas and help reduce poverty.

Relatively quick at measuring the market supply and demand, many companies have set up manpower floors with very exciting matching sessions. With supports from provincial Departments of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, many enterprises have grasped numerous business opportunities. For instance, only one session of a newly opened employment floor in Quang Tri province attracted more than 80 enterprises registering for recruitment. Within a day, more than 300 people were recruited amongst 700-800 attendants.

Vietnamese women continued to be sent overseas as “brides,” with many ending up in prostitution. In 2007, there were approximately 100,000 Vietnamese “brides” in Taiwan. The flow of “brides” now reached Singapore, South Korea, and Malaysia. Young children continued to be trafficked from Vietnam into brothels in Cambodia.

Malaysia remains the major labor export market for Vietnamese workers this year despite information indicating labor exploitation in the country, according to Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, head of the Overseas Labor Management Department.

Vietnam’s labour export market has become increasingly unpredictable with a tough 2011 ahead. Vietnamese workers are highly prized, but the market will be squeezed in 2011 Many industry specialists forecasted that 2011 would be a year of hardships for Vietnam’s labour export.

Vietnamese workers in Libya prepare to fly home from an airport in Egypt. Around 10,000 Vietnamese workers have been evacuated due to the violence in Libya.

Labour exporters have been signing contracts that offer high salaries for large amounts of workers from the beginning of 2011.