Dao Cong Hai, deputy head of Overseas Labor Management Department under the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs, on Wednesday said the nation will achieve its goal of sending 87,000 people overseas for guest work this year. The Saigon Times Daily spoke with Mr. Hai about the situation after political crises within overseas labor markets.

The Saigon Times Daily: Over 10,000 Vietnamese workers in Libya have returned home due to a political tension in the Middle East. Does this affect the target of sending 87,000 laborers overseas?

- Dao Cong Hai: Local workers now cannot reach Libya or the Middle East due to political uncertainties but the department plans to send the workers to other markets. Around 12,000 to 13,000 Vietnamese workers arrive in North Africa and the Middle East every year and we are considering taking some to Taiwan, Malaysia and South Korea. I think the nation will fulfill the labor export target this year.

The department earlier said it has been seeking new labor markets. How is the plan progressing?

- The department actually wants to expand new labor markets, especially high-class labor markets like those in Europe and the U.S. We have received many labor orders from those markets but it is hard to send local labor there. Local workers cannot meet their requirements, especially for skilled engineers, while qualified employees do not want to work abroad. The department has yet to reach out to new markets besides the 10 nations it traditionally deals with.

Does this mean the labor export sector has not made any improvement in recent years?

-The department has sent over 80,000 laborers overseas annually in the past five years. This is a positive figure given the global economic recession and political uncertainties. However, it suggests that the market has made no breakthroughs in recent years.  

One of the main difficulties is that there is nothing in common between supply and demand. Even though they have poor professional and language skills, Vietnamese workers do not want to work in Malaysia and Taiwan due to low wages. Electronics and clothing enterprises in those countries offer them around US$300 monthly, stable working conditions and require low professional skills. There were around 11,000 Vietnamese workers in these markets last year but before 2005 we had up to 35,000.

Japan and South Korea are more attractive to local employees due to high salaries but these nations have strict requirements for skills and language.

In previous years, labor training was underdeveloped, resulting in many employers returning Vietnamese workers. Has there been any improvement in the training of overseas laborers?

- Labor export enterprises as regulated in the Labor Law have to bear the responsibility for skill and language training. They now pay attention to training skills, languages and industrial working styles. Enterprises are concerned that poor-quality workers would adversely impact their brands.

However, Vietnamese laborers’ skills are still low generally speaking, causing a challenge for them to reach high-income markets. This is the same challenge for the entire labor market in Vietnam.     

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