Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (front, third, right) visits an exhibition on the sidelines of the forum on vocational training in Hanoi on November 16 (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The country’sbiggest-ever forum on vocational training took place in Hanoi on November 16with a focus on ways to promote Vietnamese labourers’ skills.
Addressing more than 1,500 participants,Minister of Labours, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung said in the next10 – 15 years, about one-third of current occupations will change under theimpact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, information technology, robot,automation, and artificial intelligence. About 40 percent of labourers aroundthe globe will not have skills necessary for their jobs when robots replacehuman.
Therefore, making changes, especially in labourintensive industries like textile-garment, footwear and electronics, is anurgent need, he noted.
In his speech, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucrepeated his recent statement at the National Assembly’s session that resourcesfor national development are not forests or seas but the nearly 100 millionVietnamese people.
He said over the last 30 years, the expansion ofpopulation and workforce has been an important driving force for GDP growth.However, since 2013, the size of Vietnam’s labour force has begun to approachits limit compared to the size of the economy. Therefore, raising productivityplays a decisive role in economic growth and economic restructuring.
PM Phuc noted expanding the scale and improvingthe quality of vocational training form the decisive factor in creating skilledhuman resources, which are critical to boosting productivity. In that work,businesses’ participation is important to align training curricula with theeconomy’s demand.
The Government leader pointed out that althoughVietnam has the third largest population in ASEAN, after Indonesia and thePhilippines, the percentage of trained labourers in the country is just above25 percent, equivalent to one-third of the rates in the Republic of Korea,Taiwan (China) and Singapore. In many countries, this figure is 50 percent.
Despite certain improvements, vocationaltraining has yet to meet the market’s demand, the PM said.
According to him, to sustain and promoteeconomic growth and strengthen national competitiveness, it is necessary toreform and improve the quality of vocation training, and this process needs tobe associated with businesses and the labour market.
PM Phuc stressed that only when vocationaltraining in Vietnam can catch up with the level in developed nations in theregion and the world, can the country move up in global value chains.
He also asked the Ministry of Labour, Invalidsand Social Affairs to design a social agreement with the participation ofschools, businesses and the Government in vocational training so as to createhighly skilled human resources for the economy./.
VNA
