Vietnamese workers work overseas. (Illustrative image. Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - 2019 is considered a promising year for labour export with a series of potential markets with good jobs and salaries opening doors for Vietnamese workers overseas.
Japan takes the lead
Japan is one of the markets with good working conditions and income, and a favourite destination for many Vietnamese workers. Vietnam has to date brought nearly 200,000 labourers to practice in Japan. The number of Vietnamese apprentices rises rapidly each year.
In 2013, Vietnam exceeded for the first time the benchmark of 10,000 workers sent to Japan a year. The figure reached more than 30,000 in 2015 and more than 54,000 in 2017. There are currently an estimated 120,000 Vietnamese labourers working in Japan, the highest among 15 countries sending workers to Japan.
In the final months of 2018, Japan overtook Taiwan (China) to become the country that received the largest number of Vietnamese workers. As of November 2018, Japan received more than 60,000 Vietnamese labourers, accounting for nearly half of the total number of Vietnamese workers going to work abroad last year.
The number of Vietnamese workers going to Japan in 2019 is expected to increase strongly after Japan’s House of Councillors approved an immigration bill on December 8, 2018. Thanks to the new law, Japan expects to receive 345,000 blue-collar foreign workers in the next five years. The bill, which will took effect from April, 2019, has opened more job opportunities for Vietnamese workers.
Deputy Director of the Overseas Worker Management Department Pham Viet Huong said according to the bill, Japan will initially receive foreign workers in 14 sectors, including construction, shipbuilding, agriculture, nursing, food production, electronics, automobile maintenance and repair and aviation.
“Basically, the Vietnamese human resources can meet Japan’s demand following the new policy. However, to meet the industrialisation and modernisation demand, we will focus on sending labourers to work in the sectors such as shipbuilding, electronics, car maintenance and repair and aviation,” he said.
Hundreds of thousands of job opportunities in Europe
Labour markets in Europe are also potential markets for Vietnamese workers thanks to labour cooperation agreements signed between Vietnam and some European countries late last year.
During a visit to Europe last November, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung signed deals on Labour Cooperation and Social Security with his Bulgarian and Romanian counterparts, creating hundreds of thousands of job opportunities for Vietnamese workers.
Labourers at a Korean language test (Photo: Vietnam+) The signing of the labour cooperation agreement between Vietnam and Bulgaria covers both labour export and vocational training, according to the overseas worker department. Vietnam can supply 50,000 workers in six areas, including construction, garments and textiles, high-tech agriculture and nursing.
Romania is also viewed as a promising market. It has high demand to receive foreign workers in sectors suitable with Vietnamese workers with reasonable wages.
Minister Dung said Romania had huge demand for foreign workers as its economy is developing rapidly with an average growth rate of 5-7 percent per year. Besides, a large number of Romanian workers have moved to work in Western European countries, causing a serious labour shortage.
“Romania is currently in dire need for workers in many sectors as construction, production, agricultural product processing and welding industry,” he said.
He also noted the department would guide Vietnamese labour export businesses to choose skilled workers to work in Romania and to negotiate and sign contracts with Romanian partners to ensure appropriate wages, working conditions and other welfare policies for Vietnamese workers.
Romanian businesses and companies are expected to need hundreds of thousands of workers in the next few years. Vietnamese workers sent to Romania will be provided with accommodation and food with good working conditions and a basic salary of between 600-1,200 USD per month.
More job opportunities abroad are opening up for Vietnamese workers, however, Vietnamese workers must improve their skills, foreign language and labour discipline to take these opportunities. - VNA
According to statistics from the Overseas Worker Management Department under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the number of Vietnamese workers sent to work abroad last year totalled 140,000, increasing 7 percent over 2017.
