Half of Vietnamese labourers work in agriculture: ILO

Around half of Vietnamese workers are engaged in low productivity, agricultural activities, says the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

According to ILO’s October 2012 Asia-Pacific Labour Market Update, two out of three workers in the country are informally employed. Informality is high in both rural and urban settings – accounting for two-thirds of rural, non-farm employment and half of all urban employment.

The highest levels of informality are in the trade sector (81 percent in rural areas and 63.7 percent in urban areas), the report says.

The ILO report also recognizes Vietnam’s significant development such as the introduction of the Unemployment Insurance Scheme and the endorsement of the Social Protection Floor Initiative which commits to providing basic income security and services to all people.

The Government has ratified the ILO Employment Policy Convention and is making efforts to develop a national employment policy and an employment bill to create conditions for full, productive and freely-chosen employment for all women and men.

ILO Bangkok labour economist Phu Huynh emphasised the close relations between employment and educational attainment.

Workers in informal sectors are not as qualified as those in formal sectors, Huynh said, citing that most people with tertiary education are formally employed, while  a majority of those with incomplete primary education or less are in informal employment.

Huynh also proposed that Vietnam pay due attention to developing skills and promoting stable employment.

Vocational training institutions should train professions that meet businesses’ demand, he said.

VN fishermen saved as boat capsizes

As many as 45 Vietnamese fishermen and three Filipinos have been rescued over the last three days, according to Viet Nam's Coastal Information Station.

On Sunday, a fishing vessel was capsized by strong waves in the water off Ca Mau, Viet Nam's southernmost province. All six sailors were rescued hours after the distress signal reached the station via radio waves.

Yesterday, 39 fishermen were brought ashore safely from another vessel that suffered engine failure on Saturday off the central city of Quy Nhon.

Also yesterday, three Filipino sailors who had drifted on 3-metre-long canoes for several days in the area of Spratly Archipelago were rescued by a Vietnamese fishing vessel.

Senior legislator warns of traffic violations

Deputy chairman of the National Assembly Huynh Ngoc Son warned that "the traffic death toll in the past nine months of this year equaled to a military divisions strength," considering it a great loss to the nation.

Son made the statement at an October 21 meeting to review the Government’s report on the traffic situation in the past nine months.

He even quoted statistic from the National Traffic Safety Committee, saying the number of injured people was equal to more than three military divisions. “This is a great loss,” says Son

Nearly 24,000 traffic accidents occurred in the period nationwide, killing about 7,000 people and injuring more than 25,000 others, said Nguyen Hoang Hiep, standing deputy chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, who delivered the report.

Compared to the same period last year, the number of accidents, deaths and injured people decreased by 28 percent, 18 percent, and nearly 30 percent, respectively.

Nguyen Anh Son, a NA deputy of Nam Dinh Province, voiced concern about the poor awareness of traffic laws among the public, especially youths, and the loose handling of traffic violations by police. “I often use buses. I have many times witnessed police stopping a bus for a very short moment and then letting it go. I do not know what the police had checked,” he said.

Colonel Tran Dinh Thu, director of police in Gia Lai Province, agreed that it would be hard to maintain or further improve the traffic situation in the future if there is no improvement in compliance with traffic regulations and in handling violators.

Thu said stricter punishments would be given to drunk drivers. Wherever there are more drunk drivers, there are more traffic accidents, Thu said.

Drug traffickers arrested at airport

HCM City-based customs officers seized over five kilos of methamphetamine last week, when they twice swooped on drug traffickers arriving at Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

On Friday, a 29-year-old Vietnamese male was found to have approximately 3.1 kilos of the drug hidden in his suitcase.

Meanwhile on the previous Monday, customs officers caught Chinese national Zhou Bingxue, 22, using a similar trick to smuggle 2.04 kilos of methamphetamine on flight SQ 186 from Singapore to HCM City.

HCM City's Drug Crime Investigation Police Department is conducting further investigations into both cases.

Children to get free cleft lip surgery

Fifty children with cleft lips and palates received free examinations and surgery as part of a one-week program that started at the National Hospital of Odonto-Stomatology in Hanoi on October 22.

The program is a joint effort between the hospital and the Korean Association of Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. This is the 9th time the program has been conducted in Vietnam.

Foreign delegates to attend Vietnam studies conference

Nearly 300 delegates from 35 countries and territories have registered to attend the fourth international conference on Vietnam studies to be held in Hanoi from November 26-28.

Professor Nguyen Quang Thuan, head of the organising board and Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, released the information at a press briefing in Hanoi on October 22.

The focus of the event, themed “Vietnam on the road to integration and sustainable development,” will be the integration and sustainable development in economics, politics, culture, society, environment, external relations and regional security.

Domestic and foreign scholars will make recommendations on Vietnam’s viewpoints and development policies in the context that Vietnam is becoming a reliable partner, active and responsible member of the international community and striving for a world of peace and sustainable development.

VNN/VOV/VNS