"In 2012, the social-economic development of Vietnam has made great achievements in many aspects. This result was thanks to the important contributions of the social and labour sector. However, in 2013 the economy is forecast to still face many difficulties and challenges." This is the assessment of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the online conference on people greatly contributing to society and on implementing the social work plan of 2013, held by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs recently in Hanoi.
Achieving the objective of social security
The results achieved in the field of social security have been an important contribution to the social stability of Vietnam in 2012. On a number of targets set, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung agreed on programmes such as creating 1.6 million jobs, increasing the number of workers participating in social insurance to 11,146 million, and providing job training for 1.9 million people. Other targets include raising 98.5 percent of households in poverty to an economic level at least equal with their neighbourhoods, reducing household poverty to 2 percent from 4 percent, and supporting and stabilizing the lives of people affected by natural disasters and crop failures.
On a number of specific measures, the Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to implement better management tasks, strengthen the institutional development and legal framework, and complete functions and tasks of ministries and their attached units. It is essential to improve the capacity to forecast, especially labour demand forecast, and the capacity to provide information, explanations and answers to the issues that people are concerned about. Another issue that people are looking forward to is that next year the Ministry will do better in poverty reduction, especially in remote and ethnic minority areas. The ministry should also study the household poverty criteria to provide appropriate forms of support.
On the implementation of policy on vocational training and creating jobs for workers, especially in rural areas, the Prime Minister said that it is crucial to follow the guideline associated with the work people are doing to provide them with better knowledge, thus generate higher labour productivity. At the same time, the ministry effectively implements the vocational development strategy for the period 2011 – 2020, as well as continues to improve the mechanism of state management of vocational training. The management of sending labour abroad should be paid even more attention in 2013.
Gathering resources for poverty reduction
According to statistics of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, in 2012, the ministry created 1.52 million new jobs (reaching 95 percent of the plan), organized over 600 job fairs in 43 provinces and cities with the frequency of transactions increasing by 1.2 times compared to 2011. Also in the past year, the ministry implemented a new recruitment policy and training for more than 1,493 million people, reaching 78.6 percent of the plan. The vocational training system is continuing to develop in the direction of social development. By the end of 2012, there were 151 vocational colleges nationwide (five were established in 2012), including 95 public schools, 18 schools of state-owned enterprises, 38 private schools, 307 vocational secondary schools, 869 vocational training centres (11 were established in 2012). Training activities continue to train high skill labour to meet the needs of key economic sectors and key economic areas.
In addition, the Ministry has implemented preferential policies for nearly 1.5 million people who have much contribution to society which provide regular subsidy. Also the ministry increased the allowance for people having much contribution to society by 27.5 percent, starting on May 1st 2012 under Decree 47/2012/ND-CP of the Government. The ministry organized rotational convalescence for 290,000 people, took good care for around 1,000 war invalids, and implemented policies on orthopaedic rehabilitation for over 12,500 wounded soldiers, people who contributed much in war time and their relatives. Sustainable poverty reduction is performed asynchronously. The program on poverty reduction in 62 poor communes continues to be made effective, investment is made in disadvantaged areas and localities with high poverty rate.
However, according to the review of the implementation of tasks in 2012, other to achievements made, some shortcomings still exist in administration and management. Particularly, implementation of a number of programs and projects was still slow, new training quotas are lower, resources for vocational training have yet to meet development requirements, the effectiveness of vocational training for rural workers is limited, and the life of labourers, households living in poverty, and social policy beneficiaries is still riddled with difficulties.
Leaders of the Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs of the big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City suggested that the Central Government devote more attention to poverty alleviation, vocational training and create jobs for rural workers. It is also important to concentrate resources on the policy on poverty reduction in poor areas, raise production support for the poor and near-poor households, invest in upgrading social welfare centres, and provide more information on labour and employment. About the Ministry should also advise the government on promulgating legislative documents guiding the implementation of the Labour Law (amended).
Anh Phuong
Vietnamese
