HCM CITY — Việt Nam plans each year to send 100,000 to 120,000 labourers to other countries by 2020, according to Ministry of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs.

Of this number, 80 per cent will be trained.

In last year’s first 11 months, 118,859 labourers, including 44,702 females, worked abroad, according to Tống Hải Nam, deputy head of the Department of Overseas Labour under the ministry.

Last year was the fourth consecutive year the number of labourers working abroad exceeds 100,000, Nam said.

Việt Nam has averaged 87,500 labourers working abroad every year during the period 2006 - 2016, an increase of nearly 4.2 per cent each year, according to Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

In 2016, 126,000 Vietnamese labourers went to other countries to work, an increase of 8.9 per cent compared to 2015.

Of this amount, more than 30 per cent were trained in 2016 while only 15 per cent of the total Vietnamese workers abroad in 2015 received training.

This year, there are many new chances for Vietnamese labourers to work in new labour markets with better working conditions and higher incomes, he added.

Japan is the most attractive market this year because it will allow Vietnamese labourers to return to work for a second time in several fields. Their salary will be raised by US$0.22 to US$0.25. Vietnamese labourers will be allowed to prolong their working time to five years.

This year, Japan will need more high-skilled labourers, such as engineers and technicians, than manual ones.

Currently, 500,000 Vietnamese labourers are working in countries and territories,  including Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Taiwan.

However, according to the ministry, violating regulations on labour continues to occur. The Department of Overseas Labour has named 46 labour export companies and revoked their licences.

They violated the Law on Vietnamese Guest Workers, which was issued in 2006, sending workers overseas without signing labour contracts and allowing other individuals and organisations to use their licences to illegally recruit workers and collect fees.

They also collected fees illegally from sending workers overseas and had other violations.

According to the ministry, these violations caused not only harm to the workers but also the trust with foreign companies.

The number of violating companies has been the highest ever, the department told Người Lao Động (The Labourer) newspaper.

As many as 290 labour export companies operate throughout Việt Nam.

Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Doãn Mậu Diệp told Việt Nam Government Portal that  it will seek to improve the quality of sending labourers to work overseas. It, for instance, will set up strict regulations in this sector. 

The ministry has instructed the department to carry out the registration of online contracts since January 1 last year. The result was announced online and was sent to companies. —VNS