Labour export is now considered one of important
measures to solve the problem of redundant workers in rural areas and help
reduce poverty.
However, due to poor
co-ordination between vocational training centres and markets which need guest
workers, there is a waste of human resources here and there.
Judging from the recent return of
guest workers from Libya,
up to 90 percent of them were employed in the construction sector as unskilled
workers on low pay, coming from poor rural areas. The number of skilled workers
who could earn US$500-600 per month remains very modest.
Duong Duc Lan, deputy head of the
General Department of Vocational Training under the Ministry of Labour,
Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) wonders why big businesses in the country
have not recruited workers from vocational training centres. He suggests that
it would better recruit those who wish to work abroad right from such centres.
Dang Nhu Loi, deputy head of the
National Assembly’s Committee for Social Affairs says that due attention should
be paid to improving the quality of labour resources as there are large numbers
of unskilled workers seeking jobs abroad.
Is this because labour export
businesses are only keen to make a quick profit by recruiting young people from
rural areas? To cover all costs for going abroad, they have to work hard under
the signed contract to save money. Once they have to return home ahead of time,
this means running into debt.
This year, Vietnam plans to arrange for 87,000
guest workers to work abroad but in the wake of the Libyan crisis this target
may be adjusted. The MoLISA is looking for new markets while maintaining its
ties with traditional markets.
Le Van Thanh, deputy head of the Overseas Labour Management Department under
the MoLISA says Malaysia
– one of Vietnam’s
traditional markets - only needs unskilled workers and guest workers
from Libya can go there
while skilled workers can work in the Republic
of Korea and Japan and other demanding markets.
Otherwise, workers can find a suitable job right in the country, especially in
foreign-invested joint ventures.
Thanh adds that without improving
the quality of labour resources, Vietnam will simply provide cheap
labour. Lan admits that most guest workers sent abroad in recent years are
unskilled. There is high hope that skilled guest workers will make up a greater
proportion in the 2011-2015 period as well as in the 2016-2020 period.
How to make a breakthrough in the
labour market remains anybody’s guess.
Link: http://en.www.info.vn/society/labors-and-jobs/21771-labour-export-not-only-a-solution-to-unemployment-.html
Source: VOV