
HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Young people in the workforce need to bebetter prepared for competing in a knowledge-based economy, experts said at aconference held in Ho Chi Minh City on January 11.
Pham Van Chat, a lawyer with the Vietnam International Arbitration Centre(VIAC), said that human resources in Vietnam had not been trained well enoughto meet work requirements in the new economy.
Students, lecturers and professionals from colleges, universities, institutionsand agencies in southern cities and provinces attended the conference, whichexamined the impact of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement forTrans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which took effect on January 1.
Vietnam’s labour productivity remains low compared with many members of theCPTPP and ASEAN countries.
The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has said that only 11 percentof the workforce of nearly 56 million labourers have high-level skills.
Chat noted that Vietnam’s both training and facilities have shortcomings.
“Labourers will be at risk of being replaced by machines and automation if theyare not interested in training and developing skills to meet the requirementsof the digital era,” he said.
To meet requirements in the 4.0 industrial era, teaching and research need toimprove, and creativity and innovation should be emphasised, he said.
“It’s necessary to find solutions to overcome weaknesses in economicdevelopment, apply new technology in production, and develop supportingindustries,” he said.
Pham Huy Tien from HCM City Open University said that workers with limitedknowledge of the labour laws would be at a disadvantage.
Besides having professional and soft skills, knowledge of labour law is alsoneeded. “If not fully understood, young workers and even society as a wholecould both be jeopardised,” he said, adding that such knowledge protectslabourers’ benefits.
The conference was organised by the Centre for Science and TechnologyDevelopment for Youth in collaboration with HCM City Open University.
utstanding scientific articles submitted at the conference will be awarded twofirst prizes, two second prizes, two third prizes and other consolation prizes.— VNS/VNA