VietNamNet Bridge – Vu Thi Hoan regrets leaving school at 15 to start work in a hair salon on La Thanh Street, Ha Noi, two years ago, but she said she had had no choice.

Young workers package eggs at Ba Huan Company in HCM City. Last year, Viet Nam saw a significant rise in the number of teenagers leaving school to join the workforce. (Photo: VNS)

Being a junior assistant at the hairdresser's brings her a monthly income of VND1.5 million (US$75). "At least I can survive without the support of my family," she said.

Despite her need to earn more, Hoan said there was almost no room for advancement at the salon as she lacked the necessary training and experience.

Vejs Kjeldgaard, International Labour Organisation country director, said young people like Hoan were under a lot of pressure to leave school and start work, which in the long run limited their options.

In 2010, Viet Nam saw a significant rise in the number of teenagers leaving school to join the work force, a fact attributed to the global credit crunch in an employment report released yesterday.

Nearly 44 per cent of teenagers aged 15-19 were in regular work in 2009, a fifth more than in 2007.

"The increase suggests that a significant number of teenagers are leaving the education system to seek work to support themselves and their families," said Nguyen Thi Hai Van, deputy director of the Bureau of Employment under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The report said that policy-makers should take immediate action to encourage teenagers to stay in full-time education.

The ILO country director said: "Had the [economic] crisis not hit the country, they would more than likely have been able to stay in school longer."

Kjeldgaard said that leaving school early meant that young people would not reach their full potential, which was bad for the economy as a whole.

"Without the right types of skills you cannot be productive in your job. If you are not productive, you cannot get the best salary," she said.

Skills' shortages affect an enterprise's productivity, which means they would not have the resources needed to improve the working conditions of its employees. As a result of diminished profits and increasing competition, enterprises would also be forced to cut salaries, Kjeldgaard said.

Van said it was imperative the Government invested more in jobs-training programmes for young people.

Viet Nam has a relatively high employment-to-population ratio, with 76.5 per cent of those aged 15 or above in regular employment in 2009, up more than 2 per cent against 2007, according to MOLISA's Viet Nam Employment Trends 2010 report.

The average global labour force participation rate was estimated to be about 65 per cent in 2009.

Growth

The country's labour force increased by 2.4 million to 49.3 million between 2007 and 2009, a figure that is largely attributed to population growth during the period.

But more workers does not necessarily mean better quality, Kjeldgaard said.

The ILO country director said Viet Nam's economy recovered quite quickly from the credit crunch but that firms were slow to recruit more employees.

Van added that the economic crisis badly affected jobs' quality.

The report said the number of salaried workers increased 3 per cent from 2007 to 2009 but that women were increasingly underrepresented among those with better paid and more secure jobs.

More than 40 per cent of Viet Nam's salaried workers do not have contracts, the ILO said.

Between 2007 and 2009, the proportion of vulnerable employees decreased by more than 4 per cent thanks largely to an increase in the number of full-time jobs and a decrease in the number of self-employed workers (over 8 per cent).

The report also showed a broad shift in Viet Nam's labour market away from relatively low productivity, labour-intensive agricultural jobs towards higher value-added and more technology – and capital-intensive industries and service sectors.

It is projected that the number of jobs in the agricultural, forestry and fisheries sectors was likely to decline to about 21.1 million by 2020, down from 23 million in 2008.

However, better qualified and more highly skilled workers would be needed to fuel this shift and Viet Nam's growth as a middle-income country, Van said.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News