Vietnam Holds Advantages in Labour Environment

The Japanese External Trade Organisation (JETRO) has recently announced the results of its survey in the labour force and the human resource development situation in Asia, with focus on ASEAN, China and India.

The survey results say Vietnam is holding great advantages in labour environment but is also much lacking an intermediate cadre force.

 

The survey was conducted with the cooperation of Japanese companies in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, South China and India from 2005 to 2006. According to the survey, although Vietnam has great potentiality in labour environment and human resource supply source, the proportion of workforce capable of working well in the integration process is still low.

 

The JETRO survey showed China and India can supply more skilled workers (engineer level upward) than several ASEAN countries. The survey also proved that the labour supply in several regions in China, Vietnam and Thailand is quite limited. In Vietnam, although the young workforce is large, if divided into groups of workers, engineers and intermediate management cadres, the workforce for the third group is too thin. Therefore, this group tends to work for fields with higher incomes. This is possibly regarded as a big hindrance in labour issue for several investors in Vietnam, especially those coming from Japan. The survey also pointed out that Vietnam has recently received more very strong investment inflows but it still lacks capable managers for this new era. With a growing economy, the shortage of a well-trained workforce is becoming more and more serious.

 

As for Vietnamese labourers, the strongest point is IT outsourcing. In comparison with the five most advantageous countries of China, Vietnam, the Philippines, India and South Korea, the Vietnamese IT engineer force needs a lower cost (by 20-30 per cent) than that in China while the skill of the Vietnamese IT engineers is acceptable. However, in the angle of competition, the Vietnamese IT workforce is worse at foreign language communication, especially Japanese.

 

Apart from the analysis of level and labour environment, JETRO also pointed out that several fields of Vietnam are in need of high-skilled technical staff. For example, the mechanical sector lacks some 58.5 per cent and electrical/electronic sector lacks 41.5 per cent, compared with the respective average rates of 54.1 per cent and 39.7 per cent in ASEAN.

 

From the survey, JETRO says, apart from investment environment improvement, the Vietnamese Government and relevant organs need closer cooperative ties with enterprises and educational and training units to turn out a capable workforce. Particularly, foreign language, practical skill, behaviour manner and working style must suit the modern working environment. With these improvements, the structural unemployment will be removed.