Vietnamese guest workers receive health check-ups (Photo: VNA) Vietnam will be one of the countries benefiting greatly from the ASEAN Economic Community, scheduled to be formed at the end of this year, in terms of employment growth and labour productivity improvement, an official said at a recent workshop in Hanoi.
Thai Phuc Thanh, deputy head of the Bureau of Social Protection under the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), said that once the community is established, ASEAN may become the most dynamic economic area with fast growth and strong economic structure transformation, which leads to a change in employment structure towards a decrease in the percentage of the labour force in agriculture and an increase in the percentage of the labour force in industry and services.
The number of additional jobs generated in Vietnam is predicted to rise, around 6 million of jobs by 2025 or 9.5 percent of the total jobs created in ASEAN.
The country is also forecast to see a rise in labour productivity. However, Thanh said, the increase rate is not fair, focusing on the industrial sector.
Vietnam will also face a high risk of brain drain when qualified workers go elsewhere for better working conditions and payment, he added.
Experts stated that the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community will cause a severe competition in labour. Vietnamese workers cannot compete with others in the region unless their professional qualification, foreign languages and soft skills are improved.
According to deputy head of the Institute for Vocational Studies Nguyen Quang Viet, at present, most of Vietnam’s vocational training certificates are not recognised in the region and the world.
As such, MoLISA is working with the Ministry of Education and Training in designing a national vocational qualification framework, based on the ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework and other frameworks of developed countries around the world.
The framework will help mutual recognition of professional qualification between Vietnam and other ASEAN member countries and the international community, facilitating the transfer of labourers and students.
At the workshop, participants also discussed how to fine-tune laws on labour, employment, migrant workers, and social welfare, and to connect information on labour market with other countries in the region.-VNA
