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Deputy Head of the Overseas Labour Management Department under the Ministry and Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), Dao Cong Hai, says Vietnam’s target of sending 85,000 workers abroad is within reach as major labour markets like Malaysia, Taiwan, the Republic of Korea, Japan and certain countries in the Middle East are keen to receive Vietnamese workers once again. As a rule, foreign businesses increase hiring in the final quarter of the year so they welcome guest workers at this time.

Despite the fact that there has been positive growth in the overseas labour market, Vietnam has failed to ensure an adequate supply of workers. The poor quality of its workforce has affected Vietnam’s ability to maintain its existing overseas labour market share and expand its new markets.

In previous years, Malaysia was considered a lucrative market for Vietnam’s labour exports but it has now become a tough market due to a number of factors. The situation has not been much improved by recent contracts to recruit semi-skilled Vietnamese workers in rural areas.

Many Vietnamese workers are not eager to work in Malaysia because of low wages and poor working conditions. The 95,000 Vietnamese workers working in Malaysia earn an average monthly income of VND3.5-6 million, which barely satisfies the criteria for Vietnam’s poverty reduction target.

According to the latest report from labour export businesses, the average monthly incomes in overseas labour markets are: Malaysia (VND3.6-6 million), Libya, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia (VND5.5-6.5 million), Taiwan (VND8-12 million), Japan (VND15-20 million) and the Republic of Korea (VND12-17 million).

The Air Service and Trading Joint Stock Company (Airseco) has sent the highest number of workers to work in the Middle East so far. However, Airseco Director Nguyen Xuan Vui says his company has met just 70 percent of the target set for the past nine months. Despite this market receiving Vietnamese guest workers again, Airseco is still facing difficulties in recruitment, Vui added.

Japan is a demanding market which recruits only highly skilled workers in limited numbers, while the Republic of Korea only provides Vietnam with a labour quota of 10,000-12,000 workers. In the first half of this year, RoK employers have hired only 1,500 Vietnamese workers.

To increase the quality of Vietnamese workers and the number of trained guest workers, the MoLISA has implemented a vocational training project for workers in the 2008-2020 period under which more than 3,500 workers have been trained so far. Chairman of the Vietnam Labour Export Association, Nguyen Luong Trao, says to reach this year’s target, labour export businesses need to spare no effort to overcome every difficulty in seeking good labour contracts and help workers feel secure about working abroad.