To promote the effectiveness of the job exchange
With the aim of improving the efficiency of job creation for workers, implementing the policy of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs in October 2010, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has deployed a job exchange directly managed and operated by the Provincial Job Center. However, after 3 years of operation, the exchange has not achieved the expected results.
(Baonghean) -With the aim of improving the efficiency of job creation for workers, implementing the policy of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs in October 2010, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has deployed a job exchange directly managed and operated by the Provincial Job Center. However, after 3 years of operation, the exchange has not achieved the expected results.
The job exchange is a place to connect jobs, organize interviews for businesses, and recruit workers directly at the job exchange session; a place to organize and receive job search registration, vocational training registration, and direct recruitment registration through the computer system. In reality, it can be understood simply as a "market" where buyers (businesses) and sellers (workers) meet directly, discuss with each other about abilities, qualifications, salaries, working conditions, etc., and then proceed to sign agreements and labor contracts.
In our province, since the opening of the job exchange, the Provincial Job Center has organized 47 job exchange sessions with nearly 500 businesses and nearly 13,000 workers participating; provided consultation to nearly 10,000 workers and introduced jobs to nearly 1,200 people. Mr. Ho Ngoc Hung - Director of the Center said: "The Center has promoted propaganda about occupations, recruitment targets, salary regimes, insurance types, benefits of enterprises for employees..., and at the same time contacted relevant agencies and units in the area to propagate and introduce the activities of the trading floor. Through the trading sessions, many employees find stable jobs, enterprises find people suitable to the requirements of the unit; at the same time, management agencies and vocational training facilities can closely grasp the situation of labor supply and demand in the market to have solutions to improve the quality of labor resources".
However, if compared with the initial target of 50-70 workers finding jobs per session, it can be seen that the job exchange has not attracted workers as well as businesses to participate in recruitment. Present at the session on August 10, we noticed that the atmosphere of the job exchange was not exciting. According to regulations, from September 2012, each month the exchange will organize 2 sessions on the 10th and 25th of each month, both morning and afternoon.
But according to our observations, the number of workers only came in large numbers in the early morning, and decreased significantly around 10am. During the entire trading session, 10 companies registered to recruit workers, but only 4 companies directly recruited workers, namely Ha Thanh Mechanical and Construction Company, Hung Phat Joint Stock Company, Hien Dung Trading & Service Company Limited, and Construction Investment Joint Stock Company No. 4. During this trading session, 310 workers registered to look for jobs, but only 90 workers participated in the interview at the floor. According to data compiled from 2012 to present, on average each trading session only attracted 10-12 companies to participate. The number of workers who found jobs through the job trading sessions was low, only approximately 20-25 people/session.
Workers participate in interviews at the job fair on August 10.
Mr. Dang Cao Thang - Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs said: The job exchange is not yet active, the main reason is that businesses in the area are currently operating inefficiently due to the impact of the economic recession, leading to low employment opportunities. On the other hand, most businesses are small and medium-sized, have limited investment capital, lack detailed, long-term production and business plans, so they develop human resources haphazardly and patchwork.
Another reason is that workers and businesses lack information about the job exchange. At the transaction session on August 10, Ms. Tran Thi Kieu Loan (born in 1989), residing in Dien Thap - Dien Chau, graduated from the University of Agriculture in November 2012, said: "Currently, very few people in my hometown know about the job exchange. I only know through my cousin's introduction and before coming to the exchange, I did not know what the job exchange was." As for businesses, Mr. Ho Sy Phuc, Director of Phu Son Construction Investment Company Limited, headquartered in Hamlet 18, Nghi Phu Commune (Vinh City) said: "I have only heard about the job exchange through friends but have seen little updated information about the exchange so I do not know how effective the recruitment is, so I do not want to participate yet." Through research, it is known that to promote the job exchange, the Job Introduction Center has only contacted the provincial industrial parks, the Provincial Youth Union, vocational schools in the area... and has not yet increased propaganda in localities, organized leaflet distribution, on mass media... so that workers in the province can grasp information about the exchange.
Due to the lack of specific information about the trading floor, many workers and businesses are not well prepared to achieve the best results. In addition, many workers come to the Job Trading Floor with the mindset of just "watching the flowers". A representative of Ha Thanh Mechanical and Construction Joint Stock Company commented: "Many workers submit very sketchy applications, only to explore and learn about job interview methods to gain experience but not really looking for a job". Businesses also stop at the preliminary level and do not select and respond immediately to workers, leading to low transaction results on the floor.
Another limitation, according to Mr. Nguyen Dang Duong, Head of the Department of Labor - Employment - Wages - Social Insurance (Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs), is that the staff working at the floor have not been properly trained; have not investigated and exploited much information about labor needs in and outside the province. Consulting on skills for making documents, interviews, and presentations for workers has not been done carefully, leading to not creating excitement for workers when coming to the floor. In addition, despite an initial investment of 3 billion VND, after 3 years of operation, up to now, all activities of the job exchange floor still only take place in a room of about 70m2 with about 10 computers to look up information, the interview area is narrow, not meeting the needs of workers and businesses.
In addition, the balance of labor supply and demand still has many shortcomings. Mr. Duong Xuan Phuc - Deputy Head of Information and Market Department - Provincial Employment Service Center said that currently, the enterprises participating in the floor are mainly small and medium enterprises, most of which only recruit technical mechanical workers and unskilled workers, while the majority of workers coming to the floor have college and university degrees (accounting for more than 60%). For example, in the trading session on August 10, out of 310 workers coming to participate in recruitment, there were more than 200 people with college and university degrees. On the other hand, for workers at this level, enterprises require experience, while most of the workers have just graduated or have graduated for a while...
According to the Target Program for Employment in Nghe An Province for the period 2011 - 2015 approved by the Provincial People's Committee in Decision No. 3947/QD-UBND dated September 26, 2011, each year our province strives to create jobs for 40,000 workers. To achieve this goal, in addition to effectively implementing economic development programs and projects, shifting the appropriate labor structure, promoting vocational training to improve the quality of labor resources, the development of the labor market, including improving the efficiency of the job exchange, plays a very important role.
In order to effectively implement this issue, relevant agencies need to step up propaganda work to raise awareness of job exchanges among businesses and workers; invest more in facilities, improve qualifications for staff; strengthen information connections with job exchanges in provinces and cities across the country to find more job opportunities for workers...
According to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, currently 45/63 provinces and cities nationwide have implemented job exchanges. Some job exchanges in localities such as Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Long An, Binh Duong, Dong Nai... are assessed to operate very effectively, each session attracts 30-40 enterprises and 600-800 workers to participate, of which about 300-400 workers are pre-selected through the job exchange. However, there are only more than 30 floors operating regularly with a frequency of 1-2 sessions/month.
Article and photos: Minh Quan
