Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs talks about main tasks in Year of the Tiger

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Hanoi (VNA) – Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung elaborated on the main tasks of his ministry in the Year of the Tiger in a talk with VietnamPlus on the occasion of new lunar year.

Prompt support policies

Question: In 2021, the country went through many difficulties due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In such circumstances, social security has proved its importance as one of the three main pillars of socio-economic development. Could you speak about the timely support policies that had been issued very quickly in the past year?

Answer: The labour, invalids and social affairs sector handles issues of the entire people, and the scope of its management covers 55 million of labourers, more than 8 million people who rendered service to the nation, three million beneficiaries of social protection and over 20 million of people under the poverty line. Therefore, policies related to those groups always attract great attention of the public, particularly support policies for people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The complicated developments of the pandemic have caused the appearance and expansion of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups that are yet to be covered by the existing social security system. Therefore, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) has taken the initiative in coordinating with relevant ministries and agencies to draft and submit to the Government support policies, including unprecedented measures, to help the people overcome difficulties posed by the pandemic, such as Resolutions 68, 116 and 126. They are important policies that timely reinforced and enhance the working capacity of the social security system during the time of the pandemic.

During just four months, amidst the tight conditions of social restrictions, Resolutions 68 and 116 were implemented, bringing practical help and winning approval of public opinion, labourers and employers. All targets set in the two resolutions were fulfilled or overfulfilled.

So far over 76 trillion VND (3.25 billion USD) under support policies has been disbursed, benefiting more than 44 million people. Previously, only around 1 million people receive special support each year, but in 2021, the number rose to four million.  

Question: As the “commander” of the sector, what are the issues of your concern in order to fulfil the sector’s tasks in 2022?

Answer: There are three issues in which I am particularly interested. Firstly, we need to build a large-scale social security network that is both inclusive and sustainable. The network should be able to meet three objectives of preventing, minimizing and stopping risks for labourers and people in general.

Secondly, we should build a healthy and developed labour market that can integrate in the world market.

I am particularly concerned about the hot issue of abuse and violence against children and women that aroused public anger in the last days of the year. Those are the issues of importance for the labour, invalid and social affair sector in 2022.

Question: Could you tell readers about the main tasks of the sector in 2022?

Answer: The sector will focus on two strategic tasks, one of which is to implement the social recovery programme in the fastest and most effective manner, especially restoring the labour market and people’s life.  

The second task is to build a uniform social security system on the two main pillars of social insurance and health insurance.

Focusing efforts on building labour market

Question: You said restoring the labour market is a key task in 2022. Can you give more details on policies to support the market’s recovery?

Answer: Five support measures will be undertaken. The first one is to provide loans to employers to develop production. Second is to provide rent support in cash for labourers under the 6.6 trillion VND package.

The third measure is to provide the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies the largest amount of money so far to lend to enterprises to build dormitories and housing for their workers to rent or purchase. The loans will have very low interest rates. Besides, the State budget will also allocate an amount of money to provide low-interest housing loan to workers.   

The fourth measure is to provide loans at zero interest rate to enterprises to pay wages for their workers until March 31.

And the fifth one is to continue giving assistance to enterprises to provide occupational training for workers under a 7.5 trillion VND package.  

Question: So what are the breakthrough solutions to restore the labour market and ensure social security in 2022? 

Answer: For a stable labour market, the first thing to do is to make a fundamental reform of occupational training, thus forming a supply-demand system and raising the ratio of trained labourers in the workforce.  

The second key task is to build a social security system accessible by all, which must be inclusive and sustainable and able to meet three objectives of preventing, minimizing and stopping risks for labourers and people in general./.