Decent Jobs for the People: High Priority

In his presentation, Dr Vu Tien Loc referred to the problem and solution he deemed most important in the years to come: Employment in particular for young people and workers in the agricultural sector and rural areas in Vietnam.

 

The recent report of the General Statistics Office caused grave concern, with nearly 48 per cent of 1,120,000 unemployed workers being young people of 15-24 years old. The percentage of unemployed youth is 6.47, five times the figure for workers 25 years old and upward. The figure is especially high in urban areas, at 9.51 per cent, which means nearly one in 10 urban, working-age young people is jobless.

 

The report also revealed that 17,470,000 workers in unofficial sector with low and unstable income make up 56.4 per cent. The percentage is even higher in rural areas, at 64.1 per cent.

 

While the report of the General Statistics Office failed to mention the number of jobless workers, the report of the government indicated the high numbers of unemployed and of workers in unstable jobs.

 

Though related authorities failed to give precise figures, we all understand that unemployment and shortage of jobs (in other words, disguised unemployment and semi-unemployment) is the biggest problem of the economy, the grief of each family, especially poor families in the agricultural sector and rural areas, accounting for 70 per cent of the population.

 

Unemployment and shortage of jobs in particular are causing serious problems for economic development and social stability in Vietnam. Furthermore, each year an additional 1.2 million people enter working age and some ten million people in the agricultural sector are jobless due to economic restructuring, increasing this pressure in the years to come.

 

To reduce the pressure, the economy must create ten million jobs in the next 5-10 years, and therefore I propose that high priority must be given to ensuring decent jobs for working people in annual and five-year socio-economic development plans. The importance of this task to economic development and political stability is even greater than GDP growth or regional and state revenue.

 

And who is the main actor in creating jobs?

 

The State (State administration and State-owned enterprises) being under reform, streamlining and restructuring cannot create more jobs for the people.

 

FDI sector can create jobs in certain areas, but they are not stable.

 

The biggest apparatus creating jobs is the local private sector. This is true in Vietnam as well as all market economies. Therefore, it is essential to develop the private economic sector to create jobs and promote growth so that Vietnam can be prosperous and independent.

 

To promote the local private economic sector, Vietnam must have a favourable environment for business startups and a national programme to develop at least 1.5 to 2 million businesses operating effectively by 2020. With an average of 20 jobs per business, 1.5 – 2 million businesses could create 30-40 million stable jobs in Vietnam. Therefore, I suggest that the five-year plan (2016-2020) should be a five-year national startup plan, that the whole country focus on business development.

 

The task of the State in the five years is to develop and implement programme of action meeting the demand outlined in the XII Party Congress Resolution: “By 2020, the socialist-oriented market economy should be implemented in accordance with universal standards of modern market economy and international integration” and “creating favourable conditions for the development of private businesses to upgrade the competitiveness of the economy.”

 

An important point of the action plan is to identify the road map and concrete objectives to be achieved in system restructuring, improvement of business environment and national competitiveness in comparison with other economies (and not “among ourselves” or “self glorifying” as often warned by many deputies in previous deliberations). The programme should identify where we are and where we are heading for in the race for development and global competitiveness so as to ensure Vietnamese system equivalent to advanced ASEAN economies and neighbouring countries in the next five years, in the listing of WB and World Economic Forum. The system restructuring must be implemented with the vision: No less than ASEAN members to the South or neighbour to the North. With economic and geo-political location, Vietnam cannot have any other alternative than self-reliant development. In fact, by negotiating and signing new generation free trade agreements such as TPP, EU-Vietnam FTA, we have decided to go ahead with such vision.

 

Resolution 19 of the government (2014/2015) has also outlined reform programme in the same direction and started a successful implementation proving that with determination and continuous learning, in few years we can keep up with advanced ASEAN members in system and administrative reform in various areas. The reduction by three quarters of the time for tax declaration and payment (from 537 to 117 hours) in the past two years of the financial sector, the breakthroughs in the development planning, administrative apparatus, centres of public administrative service, promotion of investment and businesses in Quang Ninh province and Da Nang City are typical examples.

 

Regrettably, however, those are only a few examples. The Government and Prime Minister failed to establish discipline in administrative system. Several sector commanders and heads of localities did not strictly implement action plans for system restructuring in line with the government resolution. The Ministry of Planning and Investment – the authority in charge of monitoring the implementation of Resolution 19, reported at the March meeting of the government that 18 ministries and agencies and 50 provinces and cities did not report on the implementation of the Resolution in Quarter I as required. The demand and urgency of the reform in important areas of the country failed to go beyond the meeting room of the government and compound of the Government Office.

 

To overcome such a situation, I suggest that the new government review the implementation of Resolution 19, updating the contents and developing an overall programme of action on system reform, improving business environment and upgrading national competitiveness in the next five years (2016-2020) and presenting it to the National Assembly, ensuring equal competitive environment, cutting off all unnecessary expenses and administrative formalities harmful to the people and businesses, creating a new trend liberating people’s power and developing business activities.

 

It is the right time for the National Assembly to consider and issue a resolution on such a programme on system reform to ensure higher cohesion and application and to enhance the role of the National Assembly in the supervision and promotion of the system reform.

 

By doing so, the National Assembly will join hands with the government in promoting reform, overcoming the obstruction of interest groups and the inherent impediment of certain administrative offices, so as to create the second wave of reform with the typical objectives of reaching international standards, meeting the legitimate demand of the people and businesses.

 

Voters said: “We have been waiting too long. The longest road seems not from Nam Quan Gate in the North to Ca Mau Cape in the South, but from ”speech” to “deed” of the authorities and officials.

Voters expect the National Assembly and government of XIV legislature to be a National Assembly and government of action so that the longest road remains from Nam Quan to Ca Mau.