The Vietnam General Confederation of Labour in coordination with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) held a workshop in HCM City on April 1 to discuss measures to help disabled people integrate more into the community.

Many participants at the workshop agreed that its is necessary to accelerate the dissemination of information to raise advocacy and awareness on the community’s responsibilities in caring for and assisting disabled people, as well as complete the draft law on employment for the disabled before submission to the National Assembly for approval.

They also mentioned helping the disabled in vocational training, finding outlets for their products and establishing funds for job generation.

According to Tran Van Tu, Director of the Policies and Mechanism Section under the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, so far, eight provinces have set up job generation funds for the disabled, but only three of them have been put into operation.

Currently, the disabled can only find jobs at establishments that are specifically designed to hire them, and which pay low salaries.

Over 5.4 million people across Vietnam are living with disabilities, making up 6.34 percent of the population.

According to statistics of the Social Welfare Department under the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, 36 percent of the disabled in Vietnam are illiterate, 25 percent are employed, between 65-70 percent are living off support from their families, and over 30 percent of them are living in poverty./.