Illustrative image (Photo: nhandan.vn) Hanoi (VNA) – The number of Vietnamese guestworkers working overseas under contracts exceeded 59,600 in the first five months of this year, or 54.2% of theannual plan and over 1.9times higher than the same period last year, showing positivesignals from overseas employment, according to the Department of OverseasLabour under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.
Japan was the top market with 20,571workers, followed by Taiwan (China) with 8,196. Other markets included the Republic of Korea (RoK), China, Singapore, Hungary, and more.
The Japanese Government is conductingpolicy reform to allow highly skilled foreign workers to have long-termresidency and expand the list of occupations for the "Specified SkilledWorker Programme" category 2.
The move is expected to increase thenumber of skilled workers from Vietnam, provide them with greater benefits andlong-term residency.
It is forecast that the number of Vietnamese workers under the Technical Intern Training Programme and the Specified SkilledWorker Programme in Japan could reach up to 500,000.
In the RoK, there were 48,950 Vietnamese workers as of June 1, up 9,300 from thesame period in 2022, with an average monthly income of 1,500-2,000 USD.
Vietnam expects to send 10,000 workers to the RoK this year under the Employment Permit System (EPS) Programme. Currently,there are more than 33,500 Vietnamese workers in the RoK under the EPS Programme.
Illustrative image (Photo: nhandan.vn ) At a Q&Asession in the 15th National Assembly’s fifth meeting last month,Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung said the sectorwill strengthenthe recruitment and training of human resources and send contract-based workersabroad. It will also monitor enterprises providing services for contract-basedoverseas employment to protect the legitimate rights and interests of workers.
Interconnecteddatabases will be built to manage workers going abroad and returning home, hesaid./.
