VietNamNet Bridge – The first nine months of this year saw more Vietnamese sent overseas for guest work than the entire year’s target of 90,000 set early this year by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Illustrative image -- File photo

The Department for Overseas Labor Management under the ministry reported that 90,558 Vietnamese including 28,894 females went abroad for guest work in the January-September period, increasing 8.62% over the same period last year.

In September alone, 10,780 Vietnamese laborers were sent to foreign countries and territories as reported by enterprises. Taiwan took the largest number of Vietnamese workers in September with 5,805, followed by Japan with 2,464, Malaysia with 920, Saudi Arabia with 798, South Korea with 472, and Macau with 30.

The department said the target has been realized early since Taiwan has kept recruiting Vietnamese workers and is allowing Vietnamese laborers back to work on offshore fishing vessels and family caretakers.

According to the department, Vietnam’s signing of many labor cooperation agreements with partners in the period has opened up employment opportunities for Vietnamese workers.

Regarding skilled laborers, the ministry clinched a letter of intent with the German embassy in Vietnam to select and train students into nurses for taking care of elderly people in Germany. This is a good opportunity to increase the number of qualified Vietnamese laborers in the European country to 500-700 a year.

The ministry also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with South Korea on sending back Vietnamese to work in this country as well as struck deals on bilateral labor cooperation with Thailand and Malaysia.

The department supported firms to send local laborers for guest work in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, trainees to work in the construction and shipbuilding sectors in Japan from April, and organize training courses for people to learn working skills, foreign languages and essential knowledge of working as family caretakers in Taiwan.    

SGT