Vietnam has a population of 83 million people of whom those aged between 15 and 34 account for 46.8 percent.

The labour force is unequally distributed, with 75.6 percent in rural areas and 24.4 percent in urban areas. The bulk of the labour force is employed in the Red River Delta and Mekong River Delta.

Results from a survey on labour and employment in 2005 showed that Vietnam was one of a few countries in the world with abundant source of young labour. However, only 22.5 percent of the labour force were trained and 13.3 percent were provided with professional training courses.

In the past few years, the Vietnam labour market has developed and proved to be effective to help labourers with employment orientation in the future. However, approximately 80 percent of transactions in the labour market were conducted mainly through direct contacts between labourers and labour employers.

The Vietnam labour market is still in its infancy. Though a network of employment service centres has been set up across the country, they have not yet fulfilled their task. Despite the regular holding of job fairs in provinces and cities, they have not yet met expectations.

Vietnam has 118 universities and colleges providing secondary-level technical education. The aim is to make full use of available equipment, facilities and lectures to create human resources for socio-economic development.

Given current demands, secondary-level technical schools are lacking equipment, particularly equipment for high-tech training. In addition, the quantity and quality of teaching staff are still a concern. Though the standard rate of students to lectures is 15/1, the rate jumps to 20/1 at some secondary-level technical schools in HCM City, and even 30/1 in some other places.

The teaching quality in secondary-level technical schools remains low even though many teachers have tried to meet pedagogic professional qualifications. Only 85.7 percent of them have received pedagogic training in comparison with a small number of teachers with postgraduate education.

Training programmes at vocational training schools are mainly based on the common combination of theory and practice in the cultural fields while programmes for basic technical and professional skill training are devised by these schools themselves. Most young workers currently lack orientations for their future careers. The formation and development of the labour market requires more attention from the State and society.

Therefore, it is imperative to develop a strong and prestigious vocational training system and occupational services aimed at forging a healthy and effective labour market capable of meeting the requirements of all economic sectors.

Employment centres should effectively perform their functions of providing labourers for employers while helping young workers seek job opportunities by organising job fairs in a more practical way. In addition, it is essential to develop more sophisticated vocational training schools and employment information centres in major cities such as Hanoi, HCM City and Da Nang, and in large industrial parks.

Private vocational training schools have greatly contributed to training and supplying highly skilled workers, so they should be developed and encouraged further.

Vocational training is more effective and less expensive in enterprises as trainees are given a chance to get used to the on-the-job training environment as well as new production methods.