Vietnam has been warned of a brain drain

Japan's parliament has ratified a new law that opens the door more widely to foreign workers. The law, to take effect in April 2019, is expected to attract hundreds of thousand of foreign workers with high qualifications and skills in 14 business fields.

The move is good news for Vietnamese workers who need jobs and opportunities for experience in Japanese industries which require high skills and discipline.

Meanwhile, Doan Mau Diep, Deputy Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), told the local press that the new policy will pose challenges for other countries, especially ones entering the aging population period like Vietnam.

There is also the impact to consider of the new Japanese policy on Vietnam’s human resources development plan. Workers with high qualifications may flock to Japan to seek better job opportunities, which may lead to a qualified workforce shortage in Vietnam.

At present, the number of jobs offered may not be high in Vietnam. However, in the long term, retaining qualified workers for posts which require high qualifications and skills is a necessity.

An analyst said that MOLISA has reason to warn of the risk. In Japan, many enterprises are going bankrupt because they cannot find workers. The problem is also occurring with many Chinese enterprises as workers in poor areas move to cities to find better jobs. Some newly built cities are becoming empty because of lack of workers.

Vietnam has also seen people moving from rural areas to cities. In many localities, there is a shortage of young people of working age. 

“The worker shortage, which is now happening in Japan, could also be a story of Vietnam in 10-15 years,” the analyst said.

Meanwhile, Vietnam now exports hundreds of thousand of workers abroad each year. In 2017 alone, the figure was 134,000.

For a long time, the increasingly high number of workers exported has been counted as an outstanding achievement, because exports help ease domestic unemployment.

However, Diep said it is necessary to reconsider the labor export. Vietnam should not try to export as many workers as possible, but it is necessary to find out how many workers Vietnam should export.

It is estimated that about 1.2 million people have entered the working age, while 400,000 have left the labor market.

There are 130,000 Vietnamese interns working in Japan, mostly in the fields of construction, mechanical engineering, food processing, electronics manufacturing, nursing and garments.

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