The number of Vietnamese people sent to work overseas amounted to 102,127 between January and September, representing 92.64 percent of the yearly target.

Students at a vocational class

Taiwan (China) received the largest volume of Vietnamese workers during the reviewed period, at 47,721, up 1.23 percent year on year. It was followed by Japan with 43,987 workers, up 23.31 percent.

A total of 930 Vietnamese workers were dispatched to Southeast Asia, while 2,218 others went to Middle East countries. Both markets saw year-on-year deceases of 16.74 and 27.11 percent, respectively.

In Southeast Asia, 824 Vietnamese or 88.6 percent of the total workers landed in Malaysia, a drop of 21 percent from the same period last year.

In Middle East, Saudi Arabia welcomed the highest number of Vietnamese workers, with 1,522, followed by Kuwait with 618 people.

According to the Vietnam Association of Manpower Supply (VAMAS), of 26 markets receiving Vietnamese workers in the first nine months of 2018, only five had the scale of 1,000 workers and above. They were Taiwan, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Rumania, and Saudi Arabia. 

The Taiwanese and Japanese markets accounted for about 94.71 percent of the workers to Northeast Asia and 90 percent of the total sent during the period.

The VAMAS predicted that in the remaining months of the year, these markets will still have high demand for Vietnamese workers. 

At the 11th plenary session of the National Assembly’s Social Affairs Committee, which ran from October 9 to 11, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung said the ministry is selecting a number of locations in Northern and Eastern Europe to send Vietnamese to work in high-tech sectors. 

Currently, a personnel project is training about 1,000 highly competent workers for the German market. After training, they will spend three years working in the European country before coming back to serve their home country.     

As planned, by the end of November this year, Vietnam will sign a cooperation programme with Bulgaria and Rumania on training highly skilled human resources.

Minister Dung said Vietnam is focusing on high-skilled workers and high-tech sectors, and the workforce will return to make contribution to the country’s development.

In 2017, Vietnam sent more than 134,000 workers overseas, surpassing the yearly target by 24 percent. -VNA