Vietnamese laborers are going to Japan (Photo: SGGP)
Mr. Nguyen Van Dung from the Mekong Delta Province of Hau Giang was recruited to work in Japan from mid-2020 with a 3-year labor contract. According to the plan, after being recruited for six months, he will go to work abroad. However, when completing the procedures, the Covid-19 pandemic brought an unparalleled global lockdown, and Japan followed suit to prevent the Covid-19 epidemic, so Dung's trip was postponed indefinitely.
While waiting for the trip, Mr. Dung had to work many different jobs to earn money to support his family and pay off borrowed debts to pay labor export fees. After nearly two years, Mr. Dung was allowed to travel to Japan in August 2022. He hoped with an income of more than VND 20 million after deducting expenses per month to have money to repair his old house and have business capital after three years of working abroad.
Meanwhile resident Nguyen Quoc Tam from the Central Highlands Province of Dak Lak flew to Taiwan (China) in March 2022 to work. Mr. Tam was recruited as an unskilled laborer to work at construction sites in Taiwan with a 1-year contract. After the termination of the 1-year contract, he has the opportunity to renew the 3-year contract if he wants to stay and work.
According to units specializing in sending Vietnamese workers to work abroad, after two years of hiatus due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, the labor export market began to recover in March 2022. It is expected that by the end of this year, the labor export market will regain its growth momentum when many countries ease entry restrictions. In particular, the Japanese and Taiwanese markets are the markets that attract a large number of Vietnamese laborers.
Deputy General Director of Sen Dai Duong Company Chu Quoc Khanh said that the recruitment demand in foreign markets is increasing rapidly. In the past time, the company has sent employees who have been recruited from 2020 and 2021 but had to postpone the trips due to countries’ travel restrictions to curb the Covid-19 epidemic. Since the beginning of the year, the company has sent about 200 people to work in Japan. The company is studying to expand to other markets outside Japan and deploying many labor recruitment plans to meet the needs of the market.
Mr. Chu Quoc Khanh informed that localities are having many options to support workers wishing to work abroad such as preferential loans up to 90 percent of the contract value or money for learning English. Therefore, with the recovery of production of countries and territories, by the end of this year, the number of workers to be exported will be higher than before the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic.
Mr. Nguyen The Dai, Deputy General Director and Director of the Southern Branch, of the East Sea Trade and Labor Export Company (Estrala), said that the recruitment demand of foreign markets is increasing rapidly. He cited that the company has received more and more orders from foreign partners.
According to the plan, this year Estrala Company will send about 2,000 workers to work abroad. However, local workers are still concerned about the resurgence of the Covid-19 epidemic, so they have been reluctant to register for labor export. Mr. Dai disclosed that the company has received so many orders; if companies in Vietnam do not provide enough workers, partners will shift orders to other labor markets. Therefore, the company has cooperated with localities to organize job counseling sessions as well as have more preferential policies, helping employees feel secure to choose suitable jobs and confidently export labor, increasing income for their families.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Lam, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the labor export in the city has prospered and developed strongly after the Covid-19 epidemic was brought under control. In the first seven months of 2022, more than 5,200 workers were allowed to mostly work in Japan and Taiwan.
He said that countries’ economic conditions are recovering and developing; thereby, they have a huge demand for foreign labor. It is forecast that the labor export will continue to grow strongly in the year-end period, especially after countries relax their entry policies. He added that more than 100 companies in Ho Chi Minh City are licensed to send workers to work abroad. These companies are focusing on recruiting workers to meet the needs of markets around the world. The Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has been cooperating with relevant units to support workers to find suitable income jobs abroad.
According to data from the Department of Overseas Labor under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, more than 10,000 Vietnamese workers were sent to work abroad by enterprises in July 2022. Generally, in the first seven months of the year, the country has more than 81,000 workers going to work abroad, reaching 90.8 percent of the year plan target. Vietnamese laborers usually work in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, China, Hungary, Romania, Russia, and Poland.
