Request for support for more than 7,000 Nghe An workers affected by Covid-19

On the morning of July 16, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs held an online conference to review the first 6 months of the year and deploy tasks for the last 6 months of the year in the fields of labor, meritorious people, and social security. Chairing the main bridge was comrade Dao Ngoc Dung - Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Delegates participating at Nghe An bridge point. Photo: Thanh Nga

At Nghe An bridge, comrade Doan Hong Vu - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs chaired. Attending were representatives of localities and related departments and branches.

60% of workers lost their jobs in Nghe An due to the Covid-19 epidemichas returned to work

The first 6 months of the year were heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic; the labor force participation rate was at a record low, the unemployment rate and underemployment rate of the working-age labor force increased due to the decline in labor market demand.

Panorama of the online conference at Nghe An bridge. Photo: Thanh Nga

According to the General Statistics Office, by June, Vietnam had 30.8 million workers "negatively affected" by the Covid-19 epidemic and it could be more by the end of the year, of which the number of people with reduced income accounted for 57.3%. The average monthly income of workers in the second quarter decreased to 5.2 million VND (down 525 thousand VND compared to the first quarter and 279 thousand VND compared to the same period in 2019). Among the affected workers, 897,500 people were unemployed and 1.2 million people were outside the labor force. However, thanks to the synchronous measures following the direction of the Prime Minister, it is estimated that from May 2020 onwards, on average, each month the whole country has from 70,000 to 80,000 unemployed workers returning to the labor market.

Many workers at FDI enterprises who lost their jobs during the pandemic have now returned to work. Photo courtesy of PV

In the first 6 months of the year, Nghe An has created jobs.for 15,621 people (reaching 41% of the plan; = 81.5% compared to the same period in 2019); 60% of workers who temporarily lost their jobs during the social distancing period due to the Covid-19 pandemic have returned to work.

Workers at businesses are facing many difficulties due to the suspension of orders to Europe. Photo courtesy of PV

According to the opinions of the connecting points, localities have reviewed and grasped the labor and employment situation of domestic enterprises, cooperatives, corporations as well as foreign-invested enterprises to have solutions to support and supply labor, contributing to stabilizing production and business. Job introduction activities and job exchange organizations are maintained online; in May, June and the first half of July, tens of thousands of enterprises registered to recruit workers, concentrated in fields, industries and occupations deeply affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Proposal to support 7,198 Nghe An workers from the 62,000 billion VND package

After local authorities gave their opinions on resolving the regime for workers after the Covid-19 pandemic, Minister Dao Ngoc Dung said that localities need to quickly and thoroughly resolve preferential regimes for workers severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, and quickly balance funding sources to resolve them for eligible beneficiaries.

In Nghe An, as of July 15, 2020, the whole province had 13 districts, cities and towns requesting support for 7,198 workers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, of which 08 districts had sent the files of 869 subjects to the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs for review; The Provincial People's Committee decided to support 343 eligible subjects with a support amount of 345 million VND.

Payment of benefits to people affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in Yen Thanh district. Photo courtesy of Thai Hong

At the conference, the Ministry also requested that in the last 6 months of the year, localities need to strengthen solutions to speed up the progress of support for employees in enterprises, employees without labor contracts, and business households; implement policies to support enterprises and employees, ensure that enterprises maintain operations, avoid mass layoffs or stop operations and bankruptcy.

Concluding the conference, Minister Dao Ngoc Dung said: Although many results have been achieved in job creation and social security after Covid-19 was controlled in our country, the unstable situation of labor and labor safety along with child care in the past time still has many complicated developments. In many localities, the work of reviewing poor households is still slow; there is a fear of making mistakes when paying policies to subjects affected by Covid-19.

The Minister requested that in the coming time, localities pay special attention to developing the labor market in many key areas, especially those with many FDI enterprises. In particular, pay special attention to market research to develop industries that the market needs. Pay more attention to those who have been laid off or lost their jobs to have appropriate support and care mechanisms.

“Regarding the social security package, localities should focus on resolving it thoroughly, requiring immediate payment to 100% of eligible beneficiaries, and not let the situation be reported as: “basically completed”” – said the Minister.

"Regarding the policy settlement for meritorious people, it is necessary to quickly resolve the backlog of cases, raising the living standards of meritorious people to an average or good level. The graves of unknown martyrs with the word "anonymous" need to be corrected immediately according to the Government's regulations" - the Minister requested.