An industrial electricity class of a vocational school (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam could lose 5 million jobs toautomation by 2020.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) made the alarmingproclamation in the context of the rise of Industry 4.0 and Vietnam’s lack ofhuman resource quality.
Lao dong (Labour) newspaper noted the ILO rankings in whichthe quality of Vietnamese workforce was given 3.79 out of 10 points, ranking11th among the 12 listed Asian countries, while the workforce’s competitivenessreceived only 4.3 points. Additionally, the rate of trained labourers was only slightlymore than 20 percent in 2015.
A large proportion of the country’s workers alsolack soft skills like foreign languages, IT and teamwork skills.
The ILO said the textile-garment and footwearsectors, which employ a large number of manual workers, will be the mostvulnerable in Industry 4.0. Meanwhile, other jobs like drivers, builders,processing workers and mechanics also face the risk of being replaced byrobots.
[Video: Vietnamese labourers struggle amid Industrial Revolution 4.0]
Vu Quang Tho, Director of the Institute forWorkers and Trade Unions of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, saidbusinesses always seek profit, so when they realise the advantages of machines,they will replace their workers with robots.
He said it is necessary to improve workers’skills so that when modern machinery is installed, they will be able to operatenew equipment. The State should also have good welfare policies for labourers.
A study released in late 2017 by the consultingfirm McKinsey suggested that up to 800 million individuals around the globecould be displaced by automation by 2030.
A report unveiled last April by the Paris-basedOrganisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) also found that 14percent of jobs in developed countries were highly automatable, while a further32 percent of jobs were likely to experience significant changes to the waythey were carried out.-VNA
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