From left: Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc; Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan; Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh

Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said this Friday while answering questions raised by legislators at the regular session of the National Assembly (NA)’s Standing Committee.

The ailing labor export market and prospects of mass unemployment were dominant themes in the exchange.

Overseas job opportunities for Vietnamese laborers appear to be drying up, with some experts blaming the global economic slowdown and others blaming the behavior of workers.

Lawmakers said Friday many Vietnamese guest workers had violated the laws and failed to behave properly in their host countries. Such acts included petty crimes and alcohol consumption in countries where it is strictly against local laws and customs.

Minister Ngan said she felt ashamed of such misbehavior by the workers and blamed it on their lack of discipline and foreign language competence.

She said the ministry would intensify recruitment of would-be guest workers and improve training provided in essential skills. The operation of labor export companies would also be scrutinized carefully.

Ngan told legislators that about 6,000 Vietnamese working abroad had been sent home after being laid off by foreign employers.

However, the government was still aiming to send some 90,000 workers overseas this year, up from 85,000 workers last year.

Vietnam sent nearly 18,000 workers abroad in the first two months of 2009, mainly to South Korea, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Japan.

Unemployment rise

Ngan also briefed lawmakers Friday on measures being taken against the expected rise in unemployment.

Between 300,000 and 400,000 people will lose their jobs in Vietnam this year due to the impact of the global slowdown, Ngan said.

By the end of January, around 85,000 jobs had been lost in 40 provinces and cities, and the job losses this year would be mostly in export processing sectors such as garments and footwear.

Ngan said the government would provide cash-strapped companies financial assistance at zero interest rates so that they could pay their staff salaries.

For businesses whose foreign owners had fled, Ngan said the local governments where the companies are based would make budgetary provisions to help the workers. The federal government would step in case local authorities were short of money, Ngan said.

Local governments have also been instructed to offer free vocational training for retrenched workers, Ngan said.

But she admitted the ministry could only report on job losses in industrial enterprises, but had no figures for trade villages and cooperatives.

Nguyen Van Thuan, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Law Committee said he was unhappy with the ministry inaction in this regard. He asked what action the ministry would take to update lawmakers with information and statistics of workers in trade villages and cooperatives.

Minister Ngan said the ministry would do its best to report the figures to the National Assembly soon.

Tet and blame

Ngan also told lawmakers Friday her ministry accepted responsibility for failures in distributing financial aid to poor households for the Tet [Vietnamese Lunar New Year] festival.

The media had uncovered last month a rash of wrongdoing in distributing the Tet relief sanctioned by the government, including siphoning off funds and denying it to really needy people.

But Ngan also blamed local authorities for dereliction of duty in distributing the aid.

In January, the government had instructed that VND3.80 trillion (US$217.6 million) be granted to poor people below the poverty line before Tet (January 26). Each person would receive VND200,000 ($11.50) and each family was eligible to receive maximum aid of VND1 million ($57).

In Vietnam, the poverty line has been set at a monthly income of VND200,000 per person in rural areas and VND260,000 ($15) per person in urban areas.

Cultural heritage protection

Lawmakers also Friday grilled the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh on cultural heritage sites and artifacts nationwide that have been neglected and suffered serious damage.

They expressed disappointment at what they said was Anh’s failure to offer specific solutions to the problem, besides calling on the support of society as a whole in protecting the nation’s heritage.

Lawmakers also urged Anh to come out with feasible measures to improve festivals where people were being ripped off with staid programming and high prices for mediocre services.

Stimulus working

Vo Hong Phuc, the Minister of Planning and Investment, also took the floor Friday and informed the deputies that the government stimulus package totaling US$1 billion was delivering good results.

Vietnam posted an economic growth rate of 3.1 percent in the first quarter of this year, which Phuc said was very positive considering the fact that only 12 economies in the world have expanded.

But NA chairman Nguyen Phu Trong warned the government against complacency, saying the global economy was still facing many difficulties and challenges.

Source: TN, Agencies