The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), scheduled to take shape in late2015, is expected to facilitate the free flow of goods, services,investment, as well as skilled workers within the bloc. This providesopportunities, but also challenges for Vietnamese labourers, who areoften deemed to be less qualified than their regional counterparts.
Once the AEC is formed, access to jobs within the region will be givenfirst to doctors, dentists, nurses, engineers, architects, accountants,surveyors and tourism professionals.
Bui DinhThieu, director of a software company, said the free labour migrationwill have the most impact on highly skilled workers with fluency inforeign languages, especially English.
If companiesgrab this opportunity, they can recruit quality personnel and avoid abrain drain, he said, adding that skillful labourers can work inVietnam, Singapore or any other country in ASEAN.
The movement of professionals from other regional countries will alsoput pressure on local people. Meanwhile, highly qualified Vietnameseworkers will head to neighbouring nations if local firms pay theminappropriately.
Data shows that Vietnam had 69.3million people at the age of 15 and above in 2014, but only 19 percentof the 53.7 million people of working age received training, which isone of the bottlenecks hindering employment.
Besidesbringing about more job opportunities for some, the AEC also threatensto increase the total unemployment rate in Vietnam, warned Cao QuangDai, an official of the Directorate of Vocational Training under theMinistry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.
Heelaborated that almost all Vietnamese workers lack soft skills such asteam working, communication and foreign language ability, so they needto actively acquire these qualifications.
Meanwhile,a majority of local enterprises are of small and medium size and lackexperience, making it more difficult for them to attract and keepskilled staff members, Dai noted.
He also pointedout the lack of interest or adequate knowledge about the AEC, even amongpeople holding important positions at State agencies, while regionalworkers are willing to make changes to dominate Vietnam’s labour market.
Nguyen Luong Trao, Chairman of the VietnamAssociation of Manpower Supply, said if thorough preparations are not inplace for the upcoming intensive integration, domestic firms will loseout to foreign ones and labourers will lose their jobs.-VNA
Once the AEC is formed, access to jobs within the region will be givenfirst to doctors, dentists, nurses, engineers, architects, accountants,surveyors and tourism professionals.
Bui DinhThieu, director of a software company, said the free labour migrationwill have the most impact on highly skilled workers with fluency inforeign languages, especially English.
If companiesgrab this opportunity, they can recruit quality personnel and avoid abrain drain, he said, adding that skillful labourers can work inVietnam, Singapore or any other country in ASEAN.
The movement of professionals from other regional countries will alsoput pressure on local people. Meanwhile, highly qualified Vietnameseworkers will head to neighbouring nations if local firms pay theminappropriately.
Data shows that Vietnam had 69.3million people at the age of 15 and above in 2014, but only 19 percentof the 53.7 million people of working age received training, which isone of the bottlenecks hindering employment.
Besidesbringing about more job opportunities for some, the AEC also threatensto increase the total unemployment rate in Vietnam, warned Cao QuangDai, an official of the Directorate of Vocational Training under theMinistry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.
Heelaborated that almost all Vietnamese workers lack soft skills such asteam working, communication and foreign language ability, so they needto actively acquire these qualifications.
Meanwhile,a majority of local enterprises are of small and medium size and lackexperience, making it more difficult for them to attract and keepskilled staff members, Dai noted.
He also pointedout the lack of interest or adequate knowledge about the AEC, even amongpeople holding important positions at State agencies, while regionalworkers are willing to make changes to dominate Vietnam’s labour market.
Nguyen Luong Trao, Chairman of the VietnamAssociation of Manpower Supply, said if thorough preparations are not inplace for the upcoming intensive integration, domestic firms will loseout to foreign ones and labourers will lose their jobs.-VNA
