That is the judgment of Dr. Chang Hee Lee - ILO Director in Vietnam at the Vietnam Labor Forum 2019 with the theme "Future of Work – The choice of Vietnam" that the Ministry of Invalids - Labor and Social Affairs in cooperation with International Labor Organization (ILO) in Vietnam held on November 27, in Hanoi.

The speakers shared at the Forum

According to the ILO's report on “Satisfactory work and sustainable development goals in Vietnam” published at Vietnam Labor Forum 2019, Vietnam has a particularly dynamic population with participation rate. In the labor market, it is more than 70% for women (compared to the average of 48% in the world), and 81% for men. In addition, manufacturing jobs have been growing at a very high rate in Vietnam, which since 2014 has always been higher than the average level of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The unemployment rate is very low but the quality of jobs is a challenge for Vietnam. Therefore, Vietnam does not need more jobs, but it needs better jobs.

Also according to the report, Vietnam's economy is creating more and more jobs requiring medium and high skills. More than half (53%) of the jobs across the country are jobs requiring average skills and 12% requiring high skills; the remaining (36%) are low skilled jobs.

Compared to other middle-income countries (the group of countries Vietnam wants to join in 2030), Mrs. Valentina Barcucci - ILO Vietnam's labor economist said that these countries have a high proportion of low skill jobs are similar to Vietnam (at 32%) but the proportion of average skill jobs is larger (48%), especially the proportion of high skilled jobs is much larger (20%) - almost double that of Vietnam. Therefore, Vietnam does not need more jobs but needs better jobs.

ILO experts point out that in Vietnam, vulnerable jobs are declining, but in 2018, 54% of workers were still doing these jobs, often without protection and the income were overall very low. Therefore, the future of employment in Vietnam is in the decision of the Government, workers and employers. In particular, “people-centered need to ensure sustainable development goals are achieved. On the other hand, improving the quality of employment in the labor market's vulnerable employment should be a priority for the Government if Vietnam wants to achieve its goal of socio-economic modernization”, experts recommend.

Demonstrating important steps, significantly improving Vietnam's employment and labor relations, creating a solid foundation for international integration, Deputy Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Le Van Thanh said that the amended Labor Code, passed by the XIV National Assembly, is an important milestone on the way to perfect Vietnam's labor law system towards modernization, consistent with the socialist-oriented market economy and economic integration. The revised Labor Code fully incorporates the principles of the ILO's basic conventions, including the remaining two basic conventions (on association freedom and forced labor) that Vietnam is expected to ratify in the coming years.

Also according to the Deputy Minister, the Forum on improving Vietnamese labor skills recently demonstrated the commitment at the highest levels of the Government on skills development, and gave policy directions for a brighter future of work through improved productivity based on enhancing the skills of the country and coordinating better supply and demand of skills. The social insurance reform scheme based on the Central Resolution No.28 / NQ / TW 2018 has paved the way towards expanding the universal coverage of social insurance.

In this regard, Dr. Chang Hee Lee - Director of ILO in Vietnam said that the future of Vietnamese jobs lies in the decision of choices. Vietnam is showing its right choice through improving the skills of its workforce, expanding the coverage of social security and modernizing labor relations institutions. I believe that Vietnam is on the right track on a sustainable and comprehensive path of growth towards becoming a high-middle-income country.