Nghe An workers returning from epidemic areas have difficulty finding jobs locally

Want to go back to old workplace

Tran Van Tho and his wife in Tay Nam hamlet, Phuc Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) returned from Laos nearly 5 months ago. During that time, the couple had no jobs, and the main source of income to support the family was Tho's job as a hired driver. "Sometimes there is work, sometimes there is not, so at best we can only earn a few million VND a month, which is not enough to pay for school fees and buy milk for our children," Tho said. The couple's biggest wish right now is to return to work, even if it means having toquarantine.

Mr. Tran Van Tho from Tay Nam hamlet, Phuc Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) in Laos has returned since March and has not had a stable job yet. Photo: Thanh Nga

Mr. Tran Quang Thang - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Phuc Thanh commune said: "Currently, the commune has nearly 200workers returning from epidemic areas, mainly manual labor. In other places, they do service work or work as bricklayers, so when they return to their hometowns, they cannot recreate their old jobs. Now, the locality only knows how to encourage them to join bricklayer groups, do service work such as transportation, food service... but it is not very effective because in reality, if they had work at home, the workers would not have to leave their hometowns.

An Hung Garment Factory in Yen Thanh District is rushing to complete its construction to start production. Photo courtesy of Van Truong

In addition to workers returning from epidemic areas in the country who are now unemployed, workers returning from Laos and China are also in a situation where "it's hard to go, but it's impossible to stay", when they don't know what to do to earn money. "Apart from those who can still work in transportation, good construction workers, there are those who can only stay at home and rely on a few acres of contracted rice fields and a few hectares of crops," said Mr. Thang. However, toemploymentOn the spot, Phuc Thanh commune has also prioritized attracting these workers to short-term vocational training classes such as sewing and food processing, which the commune is contracting with vocational school teachers to train for rural workers in the area. However, workers returning from the epidemic area do not seem to be very interested as they still have the expectation that after the epidemic is over, they will return to their old workplace.

Welding training at Yen Thanh Vocational College. Photo courtesy of PV

Currently, Yen Thanh has more than 2,000 workers returning from epidemic areas, including those who returned after Tet and have not been able to return to work due to the Covid-19 epidemic. However, at present, the district has no plan to solve employment for these workers. "They are mainly unskilled workers, working in big cities such as Da Nang, Quang Ngai or neighboring countries such as Laos, Korea... so when they return to their hometown, they cannot find jobs with stable income...".

Mr. Hoang Danh Truyen - Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Committee

Currently, Yen Thanh is also having the directionon-the-job trainingfor workers returning from epidemic areas with jobs in sewing, food processing, welding, mechanics, animal husbandry... In addition, An Hung Factory in the area will be put into operation at the end of the year with a large capacity attracting 8,000 workers and will give priority to a large number of local workers. However, this will not necessarily solve the problem of jobs for the majority of workers returning from epidemic areas who are currently unemployed in the area.

“Because workers who do not learn sewing have no job opportunities. Or workers who want to return to Laos or work abroad mainly just want to leave the country to return to their workplace,” said Mr. Hoang Danh Truyen.

Difficulty in finding a new job

The Provincial People's Committee has just issued Official Letter No. 5305/UBND - VX dated August 10, 2020 on promoting job creation for workers, especially workers returning from abroad due to the impact of the epidemic. According to this official letter, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs must review, synthesize and grasp the job needs of unemployed workers in the locality, classify the quality of human resources according to each group of subjects. At the same time, take the lead in connecting and organizing direct survey teams at enterprises and industrial parks in the province and outside the province to grasp the recruitment needs of units, thereby mobilizing enterprises and corporations to prioritizerecruitmentNghe An; signed a memorandum of understanding to coordinate the implementation of job introduction and recruitment of Nghe An workers to work at the unit.

Mechanical training at the Bac Nghe An Technical and Economic College. Photo: Thanh Nga

Also from this requestDepartment of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairshas reviewed the number of unemployed workers in working age to divide the target groups and have vocational training policies to solve on-site employment. According to information from the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs: Currently, in the whole province, there are 37,327 people looking for jobs, of which 29,955 people are looking for jobs domestically and 7,372 people are looking for overseas employment.

According to a recent survey, by the end of 2020, businesses in the province are also in need of recruiting 39,021 people. Of which, businesses in the province need to recruit 13,421 people. Businesses outside the province need 16,000 people. "However, most of the workers returning from the epidemic area are unskilled workers, many of whom have never received vocational training, even in short-term jobs, so it is very difficult to be recruited immediately by businesses in need of workers," said Mr. Hoang Danh Truyen - Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Committee.

Garment company in Dien Cat (Dien Chau) attracts over 1,500 workers. Photo courtesy of PV

Regarding this issue, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Nhung - Head of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Dien Chau district informed that since the beginning of the year, the district has coordinated with the Center for Continuing Education in the area to open 18 vocational training classes for rural workers in occupations such as seafood processing, food processing, sewing, etc. However, the effectiveness after training has not been evaluated yet.

“We have opened mobile job fairs in coastal areas and some communes with many workers returning from epidemic areas, however, because the epidemic has broken out again, this work is temporarily suspended.”

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Nhung - Head of Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Dien Chau district

Finding a job at this time is very difficult because according to the Nghe An Employment Service Center, in recent trading sessions, businesses have recruited very few workers, only half of the same period last year. "The reason is that at this time, their production chain is broken, there are many backlogs of orders, while they still have to continue production to maintain operations, so the demand for labor is very limited," said Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan - Deputy Director of the Nghe An Employment Service Center.