Vietnamese workers at a laptop factory in Kobe, Japan. (Photo: baodautu.vn) Hanoi (VNA) – Improving qualifications of guest workers and developing foreign labour markets that suit Vietnamese labourers' standards and skillshave been considered as key tasks in 2024 in order to stepping up the sending of labourers to work abroad.
According to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids andSocial Affairs (MoLISA), in 2023, the number of Vietnamese labourers sent to work abroad under contract reached its peak with 155,000 people, 29% higher than the year's plan and marking an increase of 8.55% compared to 2022.
Currently, there areabout 650,000 Vietnamese guest workers in 40 countries and territories in theworld, including Japan, the Republic of Korea (RoK) and Taiwan (China), among others.The number of Vietnamese guest workers has increased in European countriessuch as Hungary, Greece, Poland, Slovakia and Croatia.
Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Ba Hoan said that theParty and the State have always paid attention to sending Vietnamese labourers towork abroad. It is a significant and long-term strategy, helping tobuild a high-quality workforce for the cause of national construction in theperiod of industrialisation and modernisation. Vietnamese guest workers have alsohelped to strengthen cooperative relations with other countries in the world. Inmany labour markets, Vietnamese workers are playing an important role in theforeign workforces.
Besides, Vietnamese guest workers send home about3.5-4 billion USD in remittances each year, contributing to the country'ssocio-economic development while helping their families to have a better life.
Recently, MoLISA has announced a plan to recruit labourers to work in the RoK under the Korean Government's Foreign WorkerLicensing Programme (EPS Programme) phase 1 in 2024 with an expected number of morethan 15,000 people. Other labour markets such as Japan, Taiwan (China),Malaysia, and Singapore also need to recruit large numbers of workers. Many othercountries like Australia, Germany, and Canada are also lacking skilled humanresources in several areas including social security, nursing, agriculture, construction, andmechanics, among others.
Besides the positive results, the sending of Vietnamese workers to work abroad has also faced many difficulties and challenges,including high costs of working abroad; limited management and citizen protection forVietnamese workers in foreign countries and territories, poor capacity of some organisations and businesses to send workersto work abroad, among others.
According to experts, to meet the increasingrequirements of labour exports, it is necessary to closely monitor labourselection and training processes of enterprises with focus on linking businesseswith vocational schools to select and train quality labour resources.
MoLISA revealed thatin 2024, the ministry will continue to promote and improve the quality ofsending Vietnamese labourers to work abroad under contracts while increasing information and guidance for businesses to proactively train labour resources, fostering the training of vocational skills andforeign language skills for workers before sending them to work abroad./.
