Speaking at a meeting held in northern Lao Cai province on January 19 to review the implementation of a project on labour export, vocational training and sustainable poverty reduction in poor districts, Phuc said that despite many efforts, the number of labourers in difficult localities to be sent to work abroad was still low and did not meet the set target.
He suggested the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) and local authorities figure out the cause for the project’s failure, focusing on mechanisms and implementation.
Reports from the MOLISA showed that so far there are over 30 companies participating in the scheme with over 350 labour supply contracts to recruit, train and send workers in poor districts to work abroad.
After five years of implementation, more than 26,800 workers in poor districts have enrolled for the project. Of the total, 18,500 workers have been recruited for training and about 9,500 have been sent to work in Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, Japan, UAE, and Taiwan (China), of which 95% of the employees are ethnic minorities.
Workers earn a steady income at an average of VND5 to 7 million a month. Approximately 65-70% of households involved were lifted out of poverty.
However, MoLISA also admitted that the number of labourers in the 62 poorest districts across the country working abroad, is far below the set goal of the Government project. The project aimed to support poor districts to boost labour exports for sustainable poverty reduction during the 2009-2020 period, which recruiting 50,000 workers in poor districts to work abroad, and sending 10,000 employees to work abroad each year, of which 90% are ethnic minorities.
According to statistics, over the last five years, each district only saw 325 workers registered to participate in the scheme. The number of workers in poor households to be sent to work in foreign countries reached only 161 people a year.
Deputy PM Phuc asked the MoLISA to submit documents to the Government on guiding the implementation of the newly-approved Law on Education and Vocational Training towards increasing support and investment for people participating in labour export, developing training measures in accordance with customs of ethnic minorities, and innovating on how information on labour export is disseminated for locals to better understand the practical implications of labour export policy to their lives.
Regarding sustainable poverty reduction policies, the deputy PM said that poor districts should consider poverty reduction as a continuous task requiring proper mechanisms and policies that suit local customs. The localities should review and integrate the current poverty reduction policies, applying science and technology advances to help lift local people out of poverty.
Phuc suggested that poverty reduction policies be multidimensional, focusing on attracting social resources for development in districts with high poverty rates. Poverty reduction programmes should be inextricably linked with vocational training development, labour export, and agriculture.
