VietNamNet Bridge – Laborers expect to hear something from the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) about the policies on assisting and laborers in the context of the unemployment rate increase. However, no new news has been announced.

In 2008, when the national economy suffered from the global economic crisis and the unemployment rate increased, MOLISA then suggested a series of policies to support businesses and their workers.

In 2012, the situation seems to be more lamentable with the higher number of businesses dissolved and higher number of workers getting redundant.

Being unemployed – the problem of the whole society

Official reports showed that about one million workers have become redundant, since the national economy, which is on the decrease, cannot create enough jobs.

Tran Van Gia from Tien Son district in the northern province of Bac Ninh has lost the job as a worker of a construction company. However, misfortune never comes alone. He still has not received salaries for the last seven months of working, while the company has not made any commitments about the salary payment date.

Gia now works as a freelance porter at the Dong Xuan wholesale market in Hanoi, but his income is not enough to feed him and his family.

Gia, like hundreds of thousands of other workers, cannot claim back salaries from employers, have lost jobs and cannot enjoy the unemployment insurance allowance, because the companies which they worked for did not pay social insurance to the social insurance agencies.

The latest report by the International Labor Organisation and the General Statistics Office showed that 1 million workers have become redundant so far this year. Especially, the unemployment rate in cities has risen sharply to 3.3 percent, while it was 2 percent only in 2011.

Hanoi, one of the two biggest labor markets, has reported the sharp increase in the number of unemployed workers who have come to declare their unemployment status.

Job center reported that about 4000 workers declared their unemployment a month in 2012. However, experts believe that the figure does not truly reflect the real situation. A lot of other workers have lost their jobs, but they cannot rely on the unemployment allowances, because their companies did not pay social insurance premiums for them before.

MOLISA keeps silent

In 2009, following the proposal by MOLISA, the government decided to lend capital at the interest rate of zero percent to the enterprises which had to cut down 30 percent of their workers, or dismiss 100 workers and more. The loans were disbursed by the Vietnam Development Bank, which helped enterprises pay salaries and social insurance.

In case the owners of the enterprises escaped to avoid their duties, the salaries to workers were advanced by the State budget.

Meanwhile, nowadays, workers have to struggle to settle their problems, while there has been no support from the labor agency in creating jobs and welfare.

In fact, the situation in 2008 was less serious than now. By the end of 2008, nearly 80,000 workers lost jobs, and 50,000 workers more lost jobs in the first quarter of 2009.

In September 2012, the Ministry of Finance and MOLISA submitted to the government the suggested plan to support workers who lose jobs but cannot enjoy unemployment allowances, under which local budgets would advance money to pay salaries to workers.

However, no policy has been set by the end of 2012.

SGTT