VietNamNet Bridge – While low-cost labour has helped fuel Viet Nam's growth, it is likely to become a handicap if workers' skills were not improved, according to a research paper.

It was compiled by a foreign employment group, Manpower, and the Institute of Labour Science and Social Studies and was released by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs on November 8.

About 70 per cent of respondents said they would recommend Viet Nam as a business location and about 75 per cent said they would re-establish a business here because of the low labour costs and the country's growth potential.

However, they said the nation was facing a shortage of skilled labour as its labour was ranked in the bottom 10 per cent regionally. About half of the respondents rated the labour force as fair or poor.

One in three surveyed employers said that they were unable to find the skills they needed.

Manpower executive David Arkless said Viet Nam had plenty of workers who could perform simple tasks, including farming or assembly-line work, but there were shortages in areas where more education was necessary.

He said there was an acute shortage of technical, occupational health, and food safety experts.

Among the skills in short supply were foreign languages, financial basics, innovation, computer literacy and motivational creation.

Vice chairman of the Institute of Labour Science Nguyen Ba Ngoc said the shortage resulted from insufficient investment in education and training.

Moreover, few enterprises had paid much attention to developing human resources and employees had not showed strong determination to improve their skills.

The paper suggested that Vietnamese companies should play more active role in developing the labour force by carefully evaluating their needs and adopting training strategies.

Arkless said firms would have to work closer with the Government, schools, colleges and universities to create curriculums to address the shortages.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News