VietNamNet Bridge – The deputy head of the Labour Ministry's Overseas Workers Management Department, Dao Cong Hai, spoke to Dai Doan Ket (Great Solidarity) newspaper about meeting labour-export targets.

Close to 58,000 workers sent abroad in eight months

2007: Guest workers sent home over US$1.7bil

How many Vietnamese workers have been sent abroad this year?

Viet Nam sent more than 58,700 workers abroad in the first nine months of the year, equal to 68 per cent of the year's set target. Taiwan is the biggest market, which recruited more than 20,600 labourers, followed by Malaysia, which employed over 6,100 workers.

Other major markets including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Japan, Laos, the Republic of Korea (RoK) and Libya employ between 3,400-5,000 Vietnamese labourers.

Quite a few experts are worried that it will be hard for Viet Nam to fulfil the other 32 per cent of the year's target in the remaining three months. What do you think?

It is hard to say for sure at this very moment because the last three months of the year have the most potential for increasing labour export. Usually, the demand for workers is twice as high at the end of the year as it is at the beginning.

This year, although the world economy is recovering slowly, the Vietnamese labour export market is bustling. Besides traditional markets like Japan, RoK and Taiwan, we have received numerous orders from Malaysia, Libya, UAE and Arab Saudi offering a monthly salary ranging from VND5.5 million to 6.5 million (US$280-330).

However, the number of labourers supplied to foreign employers remains small. It is possible that we will not meet the year's target of 85,000 workers.

The salary offer mentioned above does not seem low so why are Vietnamese labourers not very interested in these markets?

Actually, the requirement for paper procedures as well as labourer qualifications in these markets is not stricter than other markets. However, this year Japan and RoK's policies are more open to increasing their in-take, thus, Vietnamese workers are more likely to shift to these two markets.

A recent report by the National Assembly Standing Committee reveals that in some communes up to 70-80 per cent of workers are sent abroad by illicit exporters. Is this because of weak management? Or what are the reasons such activities take place?

Currently, many fake labour export companies go to remote areas, especially mountainous and underprivileged areas, and cheat local workers, while authorised exporters rarely go to these areas to recruit. Although this is the case, this does not account for the situation entirely.

It is important that labourers study potential markets carefully.

At the same time, local authorities should seriously regard labour export as a key to poverty reduction. And finally, local authorities and labour exporters should work together to create the best opportunities for labourers.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News