The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs is worried about fulfilling its target of generating an additional 1.7 million jobs this year, with a new forecast that expects an additional 400,000 to become unemployed in the near future.

“Though the target was approved by the National Assembly, I think now it is not possible to achieve,” said Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, admitting that the ministry has failed to foresee several problems.

Employers meet with job seekers at a job bazaar in Ho Chi Minh City in 2008 (Filed photo)

HCM City has revealed that 135 businesses in the city have stopped operating, or are downgrading production, leading to 19,000 laborers being laid off and another 2,300 forced to work truncated hours or on a temporary basis. 

Hanoi’s Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has estimated that the number of unemployed workers in 2008 and 2009 would reach 27,000, excluding the Vietnamese guest workers who returned home prior to their contracted terms. Most of the newly unemployed were working in companies producing apparel, footwear and electronics for export.

As the government has been carrying out numerous solutions to deal with the situation, many localities and organizations have been taking their own approach to generate jobs for unemployed laborers.

HCM City’s Fund for the Support of Workers is coordinating with the management boards, trade unions and youth unions of export processing and industrial zones to launch ‘Jobs to Jobs’ programmes, aimed at helping 4,000 unemployed workers find new jobs.

The Fund has helped consult laborers regarding high-demand jobs, and helped in training them in job-finding skills; it is also subsidizing 50 percent of fees for short-term vocational training courses for unemployed workers.

The Hanoi Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has proposed that the city dole out an additional VND100 billion from the municipal budget to assist the unemployed in seeking new employment, and helping small and medium-sized enterprises generate new job opportunities for workers.

Authorities in southern Binh Duong province, where industrial production is bustling, have assisted over 80 percent of 10,000 unemployed workers in getting recruited for other fields of work.

Local businesses in central Thanh Hoa province have committed to not cutting their workforce by more than 20 percent.

Nguyen Thi Minh Tam, Development and Communications Director of Navigos, which is the country’s leading e-placement company, commented that both businesses and workers are facing tremendous challenges at this time.

“Cutting jobs is considered an extreme measure, as businesses don’t want to lose people who have been trained and have experience in their particular fields,” Tam said, adding that “unemployed workers should see this as an opportunity to try out new jobs.