Nearly 104 trillion VND (4.7 billion USD) are needed for 10 projects to develop the labour market in the 2011-20 period, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

At a national conference on March 17 jointly held by the ministry and the International Labour Organisation to discuss a draft plan for market development over the next 10 years, Nguyen Ba Ngoc, deputy director of the ministry's Institute for Labour and Social Sciences, said 85 percent of the total investment would be used on one project to raise demand for labour, and increase the employment rate.

The project is also aimed at increasing the number of people working in the non-agricultural sector in rural areas and relocating labourers to areas outside big cities.

The rest of the sum would be reserved for nine other projects focused on developing high-quality human resources; expanding the labour market abroad; improving the management capacity of State officials in the labour sector and completing a legal framework for the creation of jobs for disadvantaged labour groups such as people living in rural and remote areas and disabled people.

According to the ministry, most of the investment would come from the State budget, but the ministry also asked the State to call for funding from other economic sectors.

Ngoc said that the country's economic growth and its integration into the world economy required a drastic change in its human resource strategy, shifting from using cheap, unskilled labour to high-quality, skilled employees.

Experts from the institute predicted the annual increase of the employment rate [the percentage of employed people out of the total number of people at a working age] would be 1.43 percent from 2011 to 2020 . This was a modest increase, compared to the 2000-09 period which saw an annual rise of 2.49 percent.

The plan targets to create jobs for 70 percent of people in disadvantaged groups by 2020.

The ministry highlighted the need to improve the education and training system and in turn, human resources, which would help satisfy the requirements of the labour market in Vietnam , the region and the world.

Ngoc said that education and training must foresee the demand for development of the economy, build a national standard system of human quality management and provide new job training courses.

Participants also suggested that the Government should promote activities such as career advice to help graduate students find suitable jobs.

They said it is necessary to improve working conditions, ensure social security for workers, open job centres and provide information about both domestic and international labour markets for employees and employers.

The draft plan is scheduled to be submitted to the Government in April. /.