Creating Jobs for Labourers through Supporting Enterprises

 

According to reports, in 2011, there were 53,000 enterprises that registered to stop operating or to be dissolved. And in the first 3 months of 2012 alone, the figure has reached about 12,000 enterprises.

 

The rapid increase in number of enterprises that are dissolved or stop operating has exerted a huge impact on life, jobs and incomes of labourers.

 

Sociological experts said that if each bankrupt enterprise has from 5 to 10 employees, the number of people that lose their jobs in the period from 2011 to the end of March 2012 may reach half of a million. If averaged income of each person is VND3 million a month, the lost income of half of a million people will be VND1,500 billion a month, equal to US$75 million. Therefore, when unemployment occurs, material properties do not increase but reduce days by days.

 

In fact, due to difficult economic condition, when the number of dissolved and deactivated enterprises continues increasing, the number of unemployed will not stop. For example, in Ho Chi Minh city, since the beginning of 2012, points of registering for unemployment insurances have been being overloaded. The People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City acknowledged that, in the first quarter there were 29,988 labourers registering for unemployment, of which 16,803 people applied for unemployment allowances, up 8,804 people over the same period of previous year.

 

In Hanoi, the number of people applying for unemployment allowances keeps increasing, and is forecasted to reach approximately 2,000 people in April 2012. In the first quarter of 2012 alone, the number of people completing applications for unemployment allowances continued to rise to 4,667 people.

 

Regarding the current situation, it is urgent for not only authorities but also the entire society to find out a practical solution to create jobs.

 

According to Dr Dang Quang Dieu – Director of Institute for Workers and Trade Unions, when enterprises fall on the verge of bankruptcy, labourers will consequently face with many difficulties. Therefore, a priority currently is to solve incomes for the unemployed, not to increase incomes for consumers in general. The number of people dismissed due to narrowing enterprises’ producing scales must be concerned. Currently, tens of thousands of bankrupt enterprises have caused hundreds of thousands of labourers to be unemployed, which in turn has led to a reduced consumption in the economy. It is a huge problem of the society currently. Therefore, the urgent problem recently is not increasing incomes for the employed, but solving incomes for the unemployed. Creating preferential conditions for enterprises is helping the unemployed have jobs. That means the problem should be solved in the “upstream”, not in the “downstream” said Mr Dieu.

 

With the strongly volatile labour condition as today, the latest studies and assessment on actual labour life and unemployment are needed, recommended Bui Kien Thanh, an economic expert. The assessment figures must be actual and deep to find out reasons of unemployment. On that basis, the Government will direct timely rescue plans to the unemployed. Mr Thanh said that “it is necessary to link the responsibilities of economic operators with the target of creating new jobs for the people. The target must be highly valued and considered a top criterion to assess the management capacity of the authorities”.

 

Another important solution recommended by the expert is to supplement a budget to the job creation fund for families under preferential treatment policy, near-poor families, young people starting up business… The fund must pay more attention to lend small and medium sized enterprises that are currently employing many local people, as well as support to create jobs. It is necessary to deploy networks of planning vocational schools, implement effectively work training for labourers in rural areas or labourers from transition areas from agricultural land… In order to realize these, the Government should elaborate policies of training, improving labourers’ skills, enhancing productivities, as well as policies of raising salaries, benefits and rewards to attract human resource that is appropriate to the actual situation of the society.

 

In the viewpoint of management representatives of Labour and Employment Department, Ministry of Labour – Invalids – Social Affairs, at the same time there should be researches on actual labour life, the latest unemployment situation with figures close to actual condition, as well as real reasons of the situation. From the figures, elaborate rapid and timely rescue plans for the labourers, as well as complete step by step social security policies and unemployment support policies. Moreover, targets of creating more jobs for the people should be considered a top criterion to assess management capacity of public officials who are commissioned and elected by the people, or commissioned by the Party and elected by the people. It is a necessary task because increasing the number of unemployed will not only decrease incomes of the entire society, but also cause a loss of billions of VND of opportunity cost. If there are no timely solutions, the losses may increase exponentially in coming years – the representative said.