New jobs created despite global recession

HA NOI — Over 1.5 million new jobs were created in Viet Nam last year and the number of poor households reduced to 11.3 per cent, according to figures released by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The data were released yesterday during a ministry conference and came as a surprise to many, especially since these improvements were made during a time of global economic crisis.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung applauded efforts made by officials and staff of the ministry to meet Government targets.

The data follow an earlier ministry report which showed that over 73,000 labourers had been exported last year and the number of poor households in the 62 poorest districts had decreased by 6 percentage points.

Deputy Minister Dam Huu Dac said the ministry had set eight targets for this year which included creation of 1.6 million new jobs, reduction of unemployment in urban areas to below 4.7 per cent, provision of vocational training to 1.75 million people, and raising the number of skilled workers to 30 per cent.

The ministry also targeted reduction in the number of poor households to less than 9.5 per cent nationwide and less than 40 per cent in the 62 poorest districts.

Deputy Prime Minister Hung spoke highly of the ministry’s role at the conference. He asked the ministry to focus on making changes to vocational training programmes, with special attention given to rural areas.

Rural labourers account for about 43 million of a population of 84 million. Hung said the challenge for the Government would be to help a third of them get jobs in manufacturing, another third in services and the rest in agriculture.

"This is a challenging task not only for the labour ministry but also for education and health," said Hung.

Unemployment persists

Referring to a recent visit to some poor households in Lao Cai Province, he said most family members of working age were unemployed.

Hung said he was upset by the fact most couples in these families gave birth to a third child, forcing older family members to drop out of school to assist with domestic chores.

"If one person had a trade or a job, they will be able to escape from poverty," he said.

Viet Nam had 2,300 vocational training schools in 2009. Hung asked the labour ministry to pay attention to improving training quality and raising the sophistication of programmes in these schools to train highly skilled workers. "Priority must be given to train 1 million labourers in rural areas," he said.

Hung also agreed with the ministry to reduce the number of poor households to less than 9.5 per cent this year.

He told participants at the conference that poverty alleviation should be incentive-based rather than relief-based.—VNS