At the 10th session of the 13th National Assembly Standing Committee meeting in Hanoi on August 21, Pham Thi Hai Chuyen, Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said that the ministry has set a target to cover 23.5 million or 40 percent of the population for vocational training by 2015 and 34.4 million or 55 percent by 2020.
As of now, the country has 135 vocational colleges including 33 private schools in which students have to study for three years; 320 schools in which students have to study for two years; and 840 vocational centers and other various kinds of schools providing vocational training to learners.
The government had decided on 121 focal jobs and select schools to support synchronized development of human resources and vocational training for the period 2011-2020.
However, vocational training in districts is not well developed and until now 163 districts have no state training centers, reason being shortage of teachers and various preferential policies.
This year, Vietnam aims to generate 1.6 million jobs, reduce the unemployment rate in urban areas to 4 percent, and raise the ratio of trained workers to 46 percent. In the first six months of this year, about 734,000 jobs were generated, meeting 46 percent of the yearly target.
At the NA session, Minister Chuyen also answered pressing issues including management of foreign workers in Vietnam.
Till July, as many as 77,087 foreigners from more than 60 countries and territories were reported working in Vietnam, of which 24,455 were unlicensed, accounting for 32.85 percent. Laborers from China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia and other Asian countries accounted for 58 percent; from the UK, France and other European countries 28.56 percent; and other countries 13.5 percent.
To tighten management on foreign labor, Chuyen said that the law concerning this issue will be made more effective.
The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has proposed to provincial and municipal people’s committees to implement measures to strictly control foreign laborers working in Vietnam.
