MOLISA plans to export unemployed university graduates

The figure was released by the Japan Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on January 26, according to Kyodo News.

By October 2017, the number of Vietnamese workers in Japan had increased by 40 percent compared with the same period in 2016 to 240,259.

The Japanese government is opening the labor market door widely to skilled foreign workers, especially those in the IT technology sector.

In the manufacturing industry in Japan, 40 percent of foreign workers are technical interns, while in the service sector, 60 percent are students.

However, Japan is a demanding market, so foreign interns and students can only get jobs in fields which offer low wages and don’t require high skills.

Japan, together with South Korea and Germany, are markets Vietnam is targeting for bachelor’s degree graduates who cannot find jobs.

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) is drawing up a plan to send trained workers abroad in 2018-2020, under which 54,000 unemployed workers finishing universities, junior colleges and vocational schools in certain majors would be sent to these three key markets. 

Another 39,000 workers would be sent to the three markets in 2021-2015, while the production fields to receive Vietnamese workers would be expanded.

Japan, for example, would receive IT and biology engineers, while Germany would accept skilled workers in precise mechanical engineering, and South Korea IT engineers and sailors.

As for the ASEAN market, Vietnam would send workers in the service sectors of beauty care, hotel/restaurant services, mechanics and construction.

The project is estimated to cost VND1.3 trillion, sourced from the state budget. Of this, VND432 billion would be disbursed in the first phase and the remaining VND874 billion in the second.

Analysts are optimistic about a plan on exporting trained workers to Japan, commenting that as the Japanese economy needs workers, Vietnam can expect a good outcome for its bachelor’s degree graduate export program.

Employment bulletins show that more than 200,000 university and junior college graduates in Vietnam are unemployed.

However, Pham Do Nhat Tan, chair of the Vietnam Association of Manpower Supply (VAMAS), warned that only workers in certain production fields can be exported. Vietnamese nurses are highly appreciated in Japan and Germany, while IT workers are welcomed in Japan and Singapore and senior welders in South Korea.

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