The National Assembly Committee for Social Issues Chairwoman Truong Thi Mai confirmed that the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) is responsible for managing foreign labourers in Vietnam.

Ms. Truong Thi Mai.

The public has been paying particular attention to the issue of foreign workers, especially unskilled workers in Vietnam. Which agency is responsible for managing foreign workers?

The responsibility belongs to MoLISA. Other agencies are responsible for combining with MoLISA but this ministry is the one that is chiefly responsible for this.

For example, there are five ministries associated with cooking safety, but the Health Ministry is the agency with the major responsibility in that area.

How should the government deal with the flow of foreign labourers into Vietnam?

The government is checking regulations on foreign labourers in Vietnam. I think the government needs to make a comprehensive assessment of this and then have the NA Committee for Social Issues work with MoLISA.

What is the biggest concern of the NA’s Committee for Social Issues?

There are two things: job, vocational training for labourers in the current circumstance and how the government’s solutions deal with impacts of economic slowdown on the poor and policies for the poor.

We are preparing long-term policies. We have made suggestions and the government will issue a comprehensive scheme on policies for workers.

The government has to develop the social welfare system from 2010 to 2020. The NA’s Committee for Social Issues will organise a round-table discussion to review the scheme before submitting it to the NA.

What is your committee’s viewpoint about unemployment?

Foreign workers at a worker hamlet in Tan Phu District, HCM City.

Information sharing among localities and between localities and the government about unemployment is necessary to solve the problem of job imbalance between regions.

I have seen companies in industrial zones in Dong Nai, Binh Duong and HCM City advertise that they are recruiting workers, but many rural workers are still returning home. What is the problem here? We need to collect more information and come up with solutions for this. If we do well, unemployment this year will not be as serious as the MoLISA’s forecast.

Do you think that MoLISA’s statistics about jobless workers, job creation are accurate?

There are some accurate numbers and some that are not so certain. There are some issues that we need statistics about but we don’t have, for example the situation of workers at craft villages and cooperatives. State agencies have to continue researching and offering solutions.

The government’s economic stimulus package also focuses on labour issues. What do you think about the implementation?

These solutions have only been carried out for a few months so the results are not clear. However, this year we will adjust the growth goal, which will influence the job target. MoLISA has not introduced any specific forecast of labour based on the adjustment. We will continue supervising.

The government’s solutions are short-term, from 12 to 24 months. These solutions have had certain impacts on labourers.

For example, we have unemployment insurance, but the first workers will not benefit from it until one year after it was implemented. So on January 1, 2010, this policy will go into effect.

We also have a policy that lends employers money to pay their workers’ salaries, but I know of a few enterprises that have asked for this kind of loan for different reasons.

I think vocational training is important, both in the short and long terms. Lending to pay salaries is a temporary measure and employers are not so eager about that policy. Vocational training is especially important. The future of Vietnamese labourers depends on this.

Vocational training has to be suitable to economic structure. That is the common issue for the entire economy, not only the economy in the period of restructuring. If there are economic changes, skilled workers will have chances to find new jobs. The percentage of untrained workers in Vietnam is too high.

PV