Vietnam is expected to send 10,000-12,000 workers to work in Japan this year, the English language news portal VietNamNet Bridge reported on August 26.

This has made an increase of 30 percent compared to the last year’s figure.

Le Long Son, General Director of CT Esuhai, said 500 Vietnamese workers provided by CT Esuhai have been accepted by Japanese employers, an increase of 40 percent over the same period the last year.

We have been training for Vietnamese labourers while Japanese employers directly interviewing their labourers, added Hoang.

The company’s Japanese partners now seek workers for making bakery, assembling electronic products, or decorating food with a minimum salary of 25 million VND a month.

Besides, CT Esuhai is also looking for skilful workers in the fields of automobile design and mechanical engineering.

The director of another labour export company also noted that the demand has increased sharply, especially for workers on construction works for Olympics 2020.

He said some Japanese civil engineering groups like Taisei and Kazima have requested workers for the fields of interior decoration and refrigeration engineering.

Regarding salaries, a representative of the Vietnamese Labourers Management Board in Japan said the average pay is 30 million VND a month, while engineers can receive over 40 million VND.

Duong Thi Cuc, chair of Saigon Inserco, confirmed that Japanese are seeking workers in many fields, from mechanical engineering, welding and industrial plastics to electrics, electronics, from food processing, seafood processing, garments and agriculture.

“We organise two or three sessions of interviews every month to find capable workers. About 95 percent of workers we select can satisfy the requirements,” she was cited as saying.

The Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Branch of Getraco, Tran Xuan Tu, predicted that 2014 and the next few years would see a boom in the number of workers sent to Japan .

“The demand from Japan has increased by 30-40 percent,” Tu was quoted as saying.

According to the Vietnamese Labourers Management Board in Japan, the Japanese Government has agreed to extend the Vietnamese workers’ stay in Japan from three years to five years. The decision will take effect in mid-2015.

Workers who spend three years in Japan and return to Vietnam for more than one year will be allowed to return to Japan under another three-year labour contract. Under current law, Vietnamese workers cannot return to Japan for the same purpose.-VNA