VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs recently asked the People’s Committees of provinces and cities to help workers who became unemployed after their companies’ bosses ran away to evade responsibilities.

In a letter, the ministry requested People’s Committees order local State agencies to review the list of enterprises in the area with owners who had run away and pay employees compensation for the salaries and social insurance they were owed.

A report on the situation including solutions to the problem must be submitted to the ministry before April 1.

State agencies were also asked to help the unemployed workers find new jobs and get loans from the National Labour Fund under the National Labour Target Programme, and job placement centres were asked to offer consultations to the affected workers.

Nguyen The Hung, deputy director of the Ha Noi Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said that the department was working diligently to collect data on the situation and submit a report to MoLISA next month.

As soon as the data collection was complete, the department would be able to offer support to the workers.

According to the Ha Noi Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, about 12,000 firms ceased operations last year, causing the unemployment of more than 41,000 workers.

Many shuttered enterprises owed their workers 3-6 months of salary.

In HCM City last year, nearly 140,000 people registered for unemployment insurance benefits after being laid off, a year-on-year increase of 33.6 per cent, according to the city’s Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The situation has triggered strong protests from frustrated workers, causing local trade unions and State organisations to interfere.

The Labour Confederation of northern Thai Nguyen Province, for example, held a meeting with managers of the Gia Sang Steel Joint Stock Company, which had failed to pay salaries to dozens of its workers for months, according to the Tin Tuc (News) newspaper.

Using loans from outsiders, the company managed to pay part of the amount it owed.

The Viet Nam Steel Corporation, meanwhile, offered the company VND100 million (over US$4,800) to help pay workers before Tet.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment on Tuesday, about 130,000 new workers found jobs within the first month of the year, including the 7,000 or so who went to work overseas.

MoLISA plans to create jobs for 1.6 million people this year: over 1.5 million in Viet Nam and 85,000 overseas.

Last year, the country created over 1.5 million new jobs and sent 80,000 workers overseas, reaching 95 per cent and 89 per cent of its initial targets.

Source: VNS