Companies have said that demand for Vietnamese workers to go to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea has increased during the final months of the year.

Workers learn Japanese at Esuhai Kaizen Yoshida School

Tran Tien Duy, deputy head of Nhat Huy Khang Company, said labour demand increases near the year-end. According to Duy, this is when Japan usually starts their fiscal year and the country prioritises Vietnamese labourers.

"The opportunities for Vietnamese labourers in Japan are open with the two countries' relationship and the vocational skills the workers have," he said.

Nhat Huy Khang Company will recruit a large number of people from rural areas from now to January 2019.

The representative from Esuhai Company also said that in the last three months of 2018, over 70 Japanese firms would arrive in Vietnam to recruit 325 apprentices on one to three-year contracts. The numbers may increase for one-year contracts. 43 Japanese firms will come to Vietnam in November alone to interview 167 people.

"Japanese firms are recruiting apprentices as well as engineers. We are investing in engineers,” said Le Long Son, director of Esuhai.

According to the Department of Overseas Labour, South Korea's Ministry of Justice has just issued special policies so that illegal foreign workers who want to return to their home countries from October 1 to March 31 will not have re-entry into South Korea banned.

Vietnam's labour export has been badly affected after too many workers disappearing in South Korea after their contracts ended.

Nguyen Tran Thang, deputy head of OSC Thang Long Company, said South Korea had been the biggest market for Vietnamese workers for over a decade. Workers are employed in construction, textiles or food processing for USD1,000 to USD2,000 a month. 

South Korea agreed to receive 3,500 Vietnamese workers in 2018 to work in manufacturing. However, this number will change depend on how the workers comply with the law.

In the first nine months of 2018, 102,116 workers found jobs abroad, an of 10.19% compared to the same time last year. 96,827 went to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. Taiwan has become Vietnam's biggest market and received 47,721 workers. Japan and South Korea followed with 43,987 and 4,900 workers respectively.

Nguoi Lao Dong/Dtinews