Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai made the statement at a National Assembly question-and-answer session on June 9 in Ha Noi.

He said the Government will direct the implementation of synchronous solutions to remove difficulties and obstacles, overcome disruptions in supply chains, promote production and business, and maintain and create more jobs for employees in the near future.

The Government also plans to effectively carry out Resolution No 06, dated January 10, 2023, on developing the labour market and closely monitoring the situation of employees losing their jobs, quitting jobs, or having working hours cut, to have appropriate support, he said.

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The Government will promote training and re-training labourers, concentrate on employment training policies to promptly respond to the requirements of the labour market, he said.

The Government schedules to implement a salary reform roadmap and develop an adjustment plan of appropriate regional minimum wage, he said.

At the same time, the Government will perfect and effectively deploy social security policies, support employees in difficulty, and suggest to competent authorities new support mechanisms and policies in case of necessity, he said.

The Government also plans to effectively implement policies on social and unemployment insurance, build harmonious, stable and integrated labour relations; effectively manage overseas labour in Viet Nam; closely monitor units which hire informal labour to ensure occupational safety and minimum working conditions, he said.

It plans to quickly complete and submit to the National Assembly the draft Law on Social Insurance (amended) at the National Assembly’s next sixth session, he said.

As scheduled, it will improve the benefits of participating in social insurance together with strengthening communication to raise public awareness in order to reduce the one-time withdrawal of social insurance; firmly handle individuals and businesses that deliberately delay paying or evade contributions of social insurance, he said.

Answering the question of National Assembly deputy Vuong Thi Huong, of the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang, about the reality of labour reduction, and working hour reduction, especially in the field of textiles and garments, leather and footwear, wood processing, and electronics, which have had a great impact on the income and life of a part of employees, Khai said in the first months of the year, job loss and working-hour reduction were reportedly occurring in big cities, industrial zones and key economic areas in the northern, central and southern region.

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The number of affected employees was about 510,000, including about 279,000 people who lost their jobs and about 195,000 others who had work hours cut, he said.

In response to the situation, the Government and the Prime Minister have issued a group of solutions. The first is making businesses operate normally so that the workers' jobs will be ensured.

Secondly, sectors and localities, following the State's policies, have supported employees to implement policies related to social, unemployment and health insurance.

Thirdly, strengthening the connection between supply and demand to create favourable conditions for employees to access jobs, especially job exchanges in localities.

Fourth, it told localities and sectors to prevent incorrect information, affecting production and business activities, as well as affecting the behaviour of employees, such as withdrawing one-time social insurance.

Socio-economic development

Also at the session, Khai said that the Government and the Prime Minister have ordered relevant agencies to drastically implement tasks and solutions to boost the economy's growth during May and the first days of this month while the global situation has continued showing complex developments.

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As a result, macro-economy is basically stable, inflation is under control. The index of industrial production in May increased by 2.2 per cent compared to April and increased by 0.1 per cent over the same period last year, he said.

The total foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first five months of this year reached nearly US$2 billion, 2.2 times higher than the same period last year. The number of newly-established and re-operating enterprises reached about 95,000, he said.

In addition to the achieved results, shortcomings and difficulties have been found, such as low economic growth; disrupted supply chains; inadequate labour market, corporate bonds, and real estate. The number of enterprises withdrawing from the market was about 88,000, he said.

The implementation of a number of policies under the programme of socio-economic recovery and development; as well as three national target programmes and planning work has been slow, he said.

People’s lives are still difficult, especially workers, and people living in remote, border areas and islands. The growth rate of social labour productivity reached only 4.8 per cent last year, lower than the target of 5.5 per cent, he added.

The level of science and technology in many industries and fields is still backward, failing to keep up with the level of the region and the world, he said.

“It is the main reason,” he said.

The quality of human resources is believed to be limited, especially high-quality human resources, the strategic infrastructure system is asynchronous, not meeting development requirements, he said.

The economic structure and the internal structure of industries are still inadequate, and the shift of labour restructure from the agricultural sector to the industrial and service sectors is still slow, he said./.