Workshop discusses labour market development to boost economic restructuring

Held by the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) and the Australian-supported Restructuring for a more competitive Vietnam (Aus4Reform) programme, the workshop featured discussions on the development of the labour market to promote economic restructuring in the country.

Deputy Director of CIEM Tran Kim Chung said economic restructuring is among the Party and State’s major policies to renew the growth model and improve the competitiveness of Vietnam’s economy.

One of the most important aspects of economic restructuring is to gradually shift from growth based on an increased quantity of inputs for production to one based on improved workplace productivity and quality, the application of science and technology, and innovation.

To do that, Vietnam must further distribute production resources, including human resources, to sectors with stronger competitiveness, higher productivity, and more substantial contributions to economic development, Chung went on.

He noted that the labour market has seen certain improvements through favourable policies and legal framework for development, increasing workplace quality and competitiveness and creating jobs.

According to CIEM researchers, workers have shifted from agriculture to the industrial and service sectors, from the informal sector to the formal sector, from unstable jobs (self-employment, unpaid family labour) to more stable, sustainable, and secure jobs, from simple occupations to highly skilled occupations, and from low-productivity sectors to others with higher productivity.

Worker awareness of social and unemployment insurance has also improved greatly, and the proportion of those taking part in voluntary social and unemployment insurance has grown considerably.

However, the CIEM study also pointed out a number of problems in Vietnam’s labour market, including legal documents and policies being yet to cover all parties, worker redundancies, low employment quality, and a serious imbalance in labour supply and demand between regions and economic sectors.

While informal and unskilled labour still accounts for the majority, intermediate institutions and welfare and insurance policies remain weak and ineffective, the study found.

Chung held that to boost the labour market in the time ahead, it is necessary to refine regulations and policies on human resources training, job creation, and wages, while developing intermediate institutions, welfare mechanisms, and social insurance for workers, for a modern and effective labour market to come into being.

Nguyen Tu Anh, an official from the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission, said the wage policy should be amended in tandem with the development of intermediate institutions, welfare mechanisms, and social insurance, to promote a modern and effective labour market integrated into the regional and global labour markets, thereby helping with economic restructuring.