Nghe An prepares high-quality labor resources when Covid-19 epidemic is pushed back

On the morning of June 24, Nghe An province held a conference to summarize the work of sending workers abroad under contracts in 2019 and deploy tasks in 2020. Attending and directing the conference were comrade Hoang Viet Duong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, comrade Doan Hong Vu - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs chaired the conference. Attending the conference were representatives of departments, branches, sectors, employment service consulting units,...

Overview of the conference. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Overseas workers send back 500 million USD each year.

In 2019, the whole province created jobs for 37,948 workers (reaching 110% of the set plan), of which 13,662 workers were sent to work abroad for a limited period under contracts.mainly concentrated in Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, and Middle Eastern countries. In particular, in 2019, the province sent 5,430 workers to work in Japan, a sharp increase compared to previous years.

Career counseling, job placement, sending workers to work abroad for a limited period of time. Photo courtesy of PV

Localities that send many workers to work abroad under contracts include: Nghi Loc, Nam Dan, Do Luong, Hung Nguyen, Yen Thanh, Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, Cua Lo Town..., mountainous districts such as: Thanh Chuong, Tan Ky, Nghia Dan, Anh Son...

Reporting at the conference, Mr. Vi Ngoc Quynh - Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs said: Nghe An continues to lead the country in the number of people working abroad under contracts. Currently, the total number of workers in the province working abroad is more than 62,000 people, the income from workers working abroad transferred to the province annually is estimated at 500 million USD/year, many households are really well-off, getting rich from the income from working abroad. Thereby, it has contributed significantly and positively to the implementation of the program of job creation and sustainable poverty reduction, building new rural areas, creating stability in social security in the area.

"We have achieved this result thanks to our appropriate incentive policies, which have attracted many units and businesses to participate in recruiting Nghe An workers to work abroad; thereby, creating more favorable conditions for workers who want to work abroad to choose units and markets that suit their abilities and aspirations," said Mr. Vi Ngoc Quynh.

Changing the way of life in the post-Covid-19 era

In the face of the complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, many countries in the region and around the world, countries that used to be Vietnam's major labor export markets, have not yet issued visas to foreign workers. However, businesses sending workers to work abroad based in Nghe An have tried to cooperate with countries such as Taiwan and Malaysia to send a number of workers to work in the fields of health care, food industry, etc. in June. However, the overseas labor market is still unpredictable. Countries such as Japan, Korea, etc. have not yet responded to the deadline for receiving foreign workers. “Therefore, this is the time for us to actively train vocational skills and behavioral skills for workers who want to work abroad, regularly update new employment needs of other countries to make appropriate adjustments in terms of occupations and labor acceptance time, and avoid workers who have already learned a trade but have waited too long and still cannot leave the country,” said Ms. Trinh Thi Huyen, representative of a Job Introduction Company, at the conference.

Mr. Dang Van Luong - Head of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Nghi Loc district presented a speech at the conference. Photo: Thanh Cuong

At the conference, many delegates expressed their opinions on improving the quality of labor when working abroad to have a high-quality labor source, at the same time creating prestige for the domestic labor market, creating sustainability for the labor supply market of Vietnam in general and Nghe An in particular.

“Although the labor force has a large demand for working abroad, the qualifications, professional skills, foreign languages, and sense of discipline of some workers are still weak, not meeting the requirements of some markets, especially markets with high and stable incomes such as Germany, Japan, Singapore, Australia...” Mr. Vi Ngoc Quynh - Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs expressed his opinion.

Mr. Vi Ngoc Quynh - Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs presented a report at the conference. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Therefore, in addition to expanding new markets, focusing on vocational training and skills training for workers to meet the needs of high-income countries, localities need to select enterprises and public service units with full legal status and reputable capacity in the field of sending workers to work abroad to recruit workers in the province. Do a good job of job counseling and introduction for workers; promote domestic job creation.

The goal of completing the target assigned by the province to localities in 2020 is to create jobs for 38,098 people, including sending 13,718 workers to work abroad and providing advice and support to workers working abroad due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic so that they can return to the domestic and foreign labor markets to work. Therefore, finding ways to create jobs for domestic and foreign workers is being identified by all levels and sectors as: It is necessary to exploit and develop traditional labor markets, while expanding many new potential markets with high and stable incomes.

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Hoang Viet Duong, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, said: Sending workers abroad in the past year has had positive results, especially in new markets; especially thanks to the connecting role of localities and departments, the targets for job creation and labor export have been quite high, contributing to the effective implementation of poverty reduction and new rural construction.

However, in reality, Nghe An workers when working abroad have not met the requirements of partners because of low quality of skills, skills and labor discipline have not met standards, so we need to further improve the training of skills for workers before sending them to work. In the near future, there must be solutions and sanctions to overcome the situation of workers going to host countries and then running away, causing loss of reputation, significantly affecting the Vietnamese labor market in the field of sending workers to work for a limited period of time abroad.

Comrade Hoang Viet Duong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council gave a speech at the conference. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Comrade Hoang Viet Duong said: After Covid-19, sending people to work abroad will face many difficulties, so the most important thing is to make efforts to solve local employment and create more jobs in the country. At the same time, we need to train and prepare a quality labor force so that as soon as there are orders, we will have an abundant supply.

Also at the conference, 35 units and individuals were awarded Certificates of Merit by the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee for their achievements in sending people to work abroad. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Content: Thanh Nga - Photo: Thanh Cuong