As many as 54 million people are just doing simple jobs yet about 30% have stilled failed to meet employer requirements according to a recent report.

54 million people work on simple jobs

At the meeting about human resources on March 27, Nguyen Duc Thanh, head of Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research, said that, "Since Vietnam started participating in the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, we no longer have advantages compared to Thailand, the Philippines or Indonesia."

Nguyen Ba Ngoc from the Institute of Labour, Science and Social Affairs under the Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs, cited opinions from Japanese experts that while Vietnam had numerous types of training, workers lacked creativity and the ability to deal with problems.

"That's why our productivity is way below Japan's and only one-fifteenths Singapore's," he said.

It was noted that 54 million people only work on simple jobs that do not need any degrees or expertise, even though Vietnam ranked third in ASEAN in terms of the size of the labour workforce.

Vocational training has not been able to meet employer's demands and the students still prefer more academic routes.

Most students only applied to vocational schools after they failed the university entrance exams.

"Many faculties at universities and colleges could only recruit few students or failed to recruit anyone at all, including mining and some hazardous industries," said Do Van Giang, deputy head of Formal Vocational Training Department.

"We’re facing some serious problems such as an aging population, low-quality human resources and lax management."

According to Giang, the country’s vocational training facilities lacked equipment and sufficiently good teachers. The poor connection between employers and education facilities was also highlighted.

Last year, 200,000 apprentices were sent to work in Japan to gain experience but after returning to Vietnam, they could not find jobs or had to work in positions in which they were over-qualified for.

Dtinews