Workers forced to take unpaid leave from 15 days to below one month would receive VND1.85 million ($80.4) per person, and VND3.71 million ($161.23) if taking an unpaid leave of over one month.

Worker demand is expected to soar after COVID-19. Businesses will expand recruitment activities as they need workers to revive production and grab opportunities from investors' relocation moves.

From this year on, May will be observed as a month to encourage all Vietnamese working people to participate in the national social insurance scheme.

A new draft law would make it easier for authorities to financially support Vietnamese workers abroad in times of crisis, but National Assembly deputies are divided over whether to approve it.

The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) in Vietnam fell from 49 points in February to 41.9 points in March. 

Hoang Ngoc Vinh, former director of the Department of Vocational Training, talks of the creation of the Ministry of Education-Science and Technology.

About 650,000 Vietnamese are working in more than 40 countries and territories worldwide, according to statistics of the Department of Overseas Labour under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA).

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) on January 8 ordered agencies and localities to halt sending workers to the Middle East in the face of current tensions in the region.

The need for laborers is expected to become more serious when the EU-Vietnam FTA (EVFTA) takes effect.

Many school graduates cannot find jobs, and enterprises complain they cannot find suitable workers or have to retrain them.

The business community has protested the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs’ (MOLISA) intention to cut the weekly maximum working hours from 48 to 44 hours.

According to the World Bank, Vietnam has had the sharpest minimum wage increase in the region, a 14 percent rise in the 2014-2016 period.

A total of 280,084 people have received unemployment allowance so far this year, and more than 13,600 people were supported with vocational training.

Vietnam will make all-out efforts to fulfill its obligations as a member of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and further promote cooperation between the organisation and tripartite actors.

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs have teamed up with Bloomberg Philanthropies to carry out a project that focuses on preventing drowning among 8,200 children in Vietnam's eight provinces and cities.

The highest added value lies in R&D, and if Vietnam continues to rely on outsourcing, its productivity will not improve significantly.

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam has been warned of a brain drain as Japan has applied a new policy which allows foreigners to work for a long time and live with their families in the country.

VietNamNet Bridge - The shortage of teachers of English in Vietnam has become so serious that some language centres are employing native English speakers without qualifications.

VietNamNet Bridge - Studies all show an imbalance between labor market demand and schools’ labor supply.