Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thanh Hoa says Vietnam began to send workers abroad in the 1980s, but its economic goals were first taken into account in 1991 when the then Ministers Council issued regulations on sending Vietnamese nationals to work under term contracts abroad.

In 1996, labour export was considered an economic sector, and the Party and State issued policies to promote the activity. After 1999, labour export cooperation was included in talks and meetings between Vietnamese and foreign leaders.

The Law on Sending Vietnamese to work abroad was approved by the National Assembly in 2006 and took effect on July 1, 2007. Vietnam has since introduced synchronous solutions to make breakthroughs in labour export.

Currently, more than 500,000 Vietnamese trainees and experts are working overseas, earning between US$1.7-2 billion a year.

According to Hoang Kim Ngoc, deputy head of the Overseas Labour Management Department, labour export offers an effective way for people in rural districts to escape poverty.

“We have been carrying out a pilot programme to help poor districts boost labour export,” says Mrs Ngoc. “We aim to select and send approximately 7,000 people from these districts abroad this year.”

To date, the programme has been implemented in 31 districts of 11 provinces: Thanh Hoa, Yen Bai, Quang Ngai, Quang Nam, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Phu Tho, Bac Giang, Dien Bien, Bac Kan and Lao Cai.

Twenty businesses have joined the programme, which has signed nearly 30 contracts for markets such as Libya, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Malaysia, Algeria, Taiwan, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

The programme has sent about 1,000 poor people abroad, of whom 95 percent are ethnic minorities. Many of the workers have remitted their incomes back to their relatives in Vietnam.

Dao Cong Hai, deputy head of the Overseas Labour Management Department, points to the fact that Vietnamese guest workers often do not meet overseas markets’ requirements, especially for a number of occupations that demand a good command of technological skills or a foreign language. In addition, some of them show a lack of discipline and law obedience in their countries of residence.

To solve the problem, he says, “we will have to focus on training workers to create a quality human resource for labour export.”

He proposes that the State issue policies to encourage businesses which are investing overseas to receive Vietnamese workers, strengthen management of these workers and better protect the rights and interests of the workers while they are abroad.

Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, head of the Overseas Labour Management Department, says in 2010 Vietnam will continue to develop its traditional markets, which are not demanding and have received a large number of Vietnamese workers.

The Middle East remains Vietnam’s key market and about 4,000 will be sent to the UAE this year to work as security guards.

This is the result of a cooperation programme between the two governments, and if it proves successful, bilateral cooperation in labour will expand to other areas, says Mr Quynh. 

Meanwhile, Taiwan has a high demand for Vietnamese workers in the manufacturing sector and at convalescent centres. Now that the embargo has been lifted, Libya is in dire need of workers for national reconstruction. This market is expected to recruit between 30,000-40,000 workers each year. A certain number of people from poor districts will also be selected to work in Japan.