In yesterday’s thematic supervision session on “State Management of Labor and Employment in HCMC for the 2020-2025 period” of the HCMC People's Council, Delegate Pham Dang Khoa expressed concerns about the collaboration model between enterprises and vocational schools for workforce training.
He commented that this model is quite good, with schools sending students to practice in enterprises, and graduates will work in jobs that match the enterprises’ needs. However, the number of companies participating in this model is not as expected. Therefore, he hoped for more appropriate policies to create conditions and mobilize businesses to collaborate with vocational schools to train workforce that suits the city’s labor needs.
In response, Director Le Van Thinh of the HCMC Department of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs also praised this parallel training model between educational institutions and enterprises during learning time.
He informed that in the city's labor and employment strategic plan issued this year, the department also proposed the city to implement this model, followed by corresponding summary reports before spreading the model citywide in the upcoming time.
Delegate Cao Thanh Binh expressed concern about the low rate of workers participating in social insurance, noting that these workers will become a burden on society after their working age.
Monitoring statistics reveal that the rate of enterprises delaying or evading social insurance contributions remains high, with over 17,000 enterprises owing VND3.06 trillion (US$120.4 million) in social insurance. The report also indicates a need for special attention to the situation of labor leasing enterprises.
Answering this, Deputy Director Nguyen Quoc Thanh of the HCMC Social Insurance Agency stated that the amended Social Insurance Law (effective as of July 1, 2025) adds new sanctions for delayed or evaded social insurance contributions.
These include mandatory payment of delayed or evaded social insurance contributions, together with a fine of 0.03 percent per day on the delayed or evaded social insurance and unemployment insurance amount; administrative penalties; and being disqualified from receiving emulation and commendation titles.
More seriously, for social insurance evasion, there can also be criminal prosecution as specified by law. These regulations are expected to better ensure workers’ legitimate rights and help reduce delayed or evaded social insurance contributions.
Delegate Tran Thi Phuong Hoa proposed that the city research policies to care for workers injured in workplace accidents, as current policies are low. Additionally, managing labor statistics between different sectors and localities, especially for freelance workers, is very difficult. Therefore, the Delegate suggests the city focus on building a shared database to uniformly manage labor across sectors and levels.
The Delegate also expressed concern about monitoring job exchange platforms on social media and job services managed by the HCMC Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs. She called for solutions to prevent workers from being scammed online.
Regarding this matter, Director Le Van Thinh shared that since the Covid-19 pandemic was under control and factories, construction sites resumed their operation, the quantity of accidents at workplace has increased. Facing this situation, the city’s labor sector focused on propaganda, inspection, and monitoring; while resolutely handling cases of employers not able to ensure labor safety.
The department also advised the HCMC People's Committee to issue a directive to strengthen state management, directing localities and enterprises to pay more attention to workers and ensure labor safety. He also admitted that the current labor management tasks are encountering various challenges.
Other developed nations are facing the same problem of inability to precisely track the actual number of workers participating in the labor market. Most countries can only monitor workers with labor contracts and tax contributions, while freelance workers remain untracked.
HCMC now has nearly 5 million laborers. Currently, management units can only track figures through taxes and insurance. Meanwhile, enterprises only report periodically every 6 months on the job information portal of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs. As a result, it is very difficult to track the labor force closely.
However, with the sector’s responsibility, Director Le Van Thinh affirmed that they must strive to track this numbers to manage effectively; and mentioned that he has proposed the city as well as the Department of Information and Communication to arrange and build IT software projects to manage the labor force in the city.
As to the monitoring of job service platforms on social media to prevent worker fraud, the Department Director expressed that his organization is very concerned but needs participation from multiple sectors like information-communication and network security.
In 2024, the department directed the HCMC Employment Service Center to organize 89 job exchange platforms in the area and interconnect with provinces in the Mekong Delta region, thereby consulting 204,000 people, with 30,000 people signing labor contracts.
In the future, the department will continue to strengthen measures and policies to further promote job connections, job introductions, and monitoring to limit job fraud on social media.
After discussion, the delegates unanimously voted to agree with the draft Resolution on “Results of Monitoring State Management of Labor and Employment in HCMC for the 2020-2025 period”.
Accordingly, the HCMC People's Council assigns the municipal People's Committee to research specific policies to support high-tech enterprises in organizing training and collaborating with vocational training institutions to train human resources and experts for the city; organize review and assessment to develop support policies for vocational training institutions currently facing difficulties.
In related news, at the discussion session, Director Le Van Thinh of the HCMC Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs announced that during the next Tet holiday for the Year of the Wook Snake in 2025, HCMC plans to organize many commemorative activities.
It is going to deliver Tet gifts to policy beneficiaries, poor people, social welfare recipients, the elderly and orphaned children in difficult circumstances, workers, and poor laborers with a total budget (including state budget and mobilized sources) of over VND1 trillion ($39.4 million).
