He said that under Japan’s labour law, foreign interns are the equal of Japanese workers and pay premiums so also benefit from unemployment insurance.
If Vietnamese interns are unable to continue their job, the Japanese Government will provide support to them, he said, noting that his ministry has carried out a number of measures to assist interns recently made jobless by COVID-19, such as setting up the Organisation for Technical Intern Training and an advisory hotline in the Vietnamese language.
To enhance coordination between the two countries’ agencies in managing and supporting Vietnamese interns, Kato suggested a hotline be established between his ministry and the Vietnamese Embassy.
For his part, Nam agreed with his host about the hotline and expressed a willingness to cooperate with the ministry to address any issues relating to Vietnamese interns in a timely manner.
He also thanked the Japanese Government and the ministry for assisting Vietnamese people in the country amid the COVID-19 outbreak, by providing aid in cash to Vietnamese workers, supporting the treatment of Vietnamese infected with COVID-19, and allowing interns with expired labour contracts to continue working pending repatriation flights.
The Vietnamese Embassy is operating four hotlines around the clock to receive information and help any Vietnamese citizens affected by the pandemic, the diplomat added.
Data from the ministry in October 2019 showed that there were over 401,300 Vietnamese working in the country, accounting for 24.2% of all foreign workers and making Vietnam the second-largest source of foreign labour. About half were technical interns.
