Unemployed workers indifferent to vocational training support

(Baonghean) - Vocational training support is part of the unemployment insurance policy (UI) to create conditions for unemployed workers to have the opportunity to change careers. However, this policy has not yet attracted the attention of unemployed workers.

Not yet "attracting" labor

At this time, the Unemployment Insurance Department of the Employment Service Center - Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs is often crowded with workers registering for unemployment. In addition to guiding the necessary procedures, the staff of the department also learns about the needs and provides vocational training advice to workers. However, it seems that most of the workers who come here are not very interested in this issue.

Unemployed workers come to register for benefits at the Unemployment Insurance Department - Provincial Employment Service Center.

For example, Ms. Le Thi Giang (born in 1992) in Vien Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) previously worked at a garment company in Binh Duong for more than 3 years; this year, due to the company cutting down on employees, she had to quit her job from the beginning of May 2016. Ms. Giang shared: “I have paid for 3 years of unemployment insurance, so I just want to use the subsidy to cover my daily life. In the near future, I intend to return to my hometown to open a grocery store or go to Taiwan to work, so I think vocational training is unnecessary. Moreover, the current maximum vocational training support level of 1 million VND/person/month is too low compared to the quite expensive cost of food and travel.”

Mr. Tran Van Thanh (born in 1986) in Hung Trung commune (Hung Nguyen) said: “I have worked for 3 companies in the South. When I was first hired, I had to undergo a short-term training course from the company before I could work. Therefore, I find vocational training impractical and unnecessary.”

Ms. Lam Thi Que - Head of Unemployment Insurance Department, Provincial Employment Service Center said: In addition to unemployment benefits, the goal of the unemployment insurance policy is to help workers reintegrate into the labor market as soon as possible by introducing jobs and supporting vocational training. Therefore, along with paying unemployment benefits, the vocational training support policy for unemployed beneficiaries has been implemented since 2013 with many adjustments to increase the level of support.

Workers looking for jobs at the provincial employment service center.

However, most unemployed workers in Nghe An are not interested in this support. Specifically, in 2015, the number of people who decided to receive unemployment benefits was 9,204, but only 13 cases decided to receive vocational training support. In the first 5 months of 2016, the whole province had 4,613 people who decided to receive unemployment benefits and only 13 cases received vocational training support.

Policy needs to be more realistic

Discussing the issue of vocational training support for unemployed workers, Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan - Deputy Director of the Provincial Employment Service Center said: "In fact, the characteristics of workers who come to apply for unemployment benefits in our province are mainly those who have worked in the southern provinces and cities with the main occupations being electronics, garments... When returning to their hometowns, it is difficult to find jobs in these occupations, because the demand is low and garment companies in our province often train their own teams of workers. On the other hand, the mentality of workers is very reluctant to change jobs in the context of the general employment situation in our province being that "demand" always does not meet "supply".

Learn auto repair at Bac Quynh Luu Vocational College

Besides, for some professions with high training costs such as driving, mechanics, accounting, etc., this support level is still quite low.Furthermore, with elementary vocational training courses, people are not yet capable of improving their working skills; if they want to improve their working skills, workers have to spend more money to attend intermediate or college vocational courses, while the majority of workers who register for unemployment at the center are unskilled workers (accounting for more than 90%), whose lives are already difficult, and when they lose their jobs, the subsidy only partially compensates for their difficulties, so they do not have the conditions to reinvest in working skills! Therefore, the common mentality of unemployed people is to spend time earning a living by doing other informal jobs to maintain their lives before finding a new job.

Mr. Tuan also affirmed: “Supporting unemployed workers to learn a trade is a necessary policy to help them return to the labor market soon. However, to make the policy more practical and effective, it is necessary to increase the level of vocational training support in some primary occupations with high training costs to reduce the burden on workers. On the other hand, functional sectors also need to have the most accurate and best forecasts of labor market demand to orient and advise.n suitable profession for them to easily find jobs after training.

In the coming time, the Employment Service Centerwill continue to promote consultation and propaganda for workers to clearly understand and grasp the vocational training support policy for unemployed workers through a team of direct consultants at the center and mobile propaganda campaigns in many locations throughout the province; open more soft skills training classes for workers, helping workers equip themselves with the necessary skills when applying for jobs and working in new environments. In the long term, the most important thing is still to balance the supply and demand of labor in our province, because with an unattractive labor market, training by address has not developed strongly, convincing workers in general and unemployed workers in particular to learn a trade is always an extremely difficult thing.

Minh Quan