VNExpress-Oct 3
Cheap labor has been Vietnam’s competitive edge for years, but it has come at the expense of workers’ sustainable wellbeing. They neither have job stability nor an adequate safety net. Four years ago, 30-year-old Ly Mi Vang traveled 2,000 km from the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang to the southern industrial hub of Binh Duong, looking for a job. Not educated, he could only get manual work. His firm, which manufactures sofas, has frequent overtime work, allowing him to earn over VND9 million ($377.12) a month. He sent VND5 million every month to his family back home. When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, Vang lost his job. He and several others from his hometown managed to catch buses to return home before travel restrictions were imposed. Vang has received no financial support from the government. Vang is a typical example of those who make cheap labor possible in Vietnam. They have little to offer except their health and willingness to work hard. They can find jobs, but they are also easily disposable. Once a business’s demands are met, the workers are considered redundant. Bui Van Lua, director of the Ha Giang employment center, said several firms in the southern region have contacted local authorities looking for workers in order to resume production earlier this year. Lua said workers are hardworking, but cannot offer anything beyond manual labor, because they do not have any technical or intellectual skill, and have never received any official training in any vocation. According to a report by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, there were around 51.4 million people of working age as of the second quarter this year. However, only 26% of them had degrees or other certificates. There is a surplus of low-skilled workers and a shortage of high-skilled ones, making Vietnamese labor force particularly vulnerable to vagaries of the market, including the impacts of disasters like pandemics. Nguyen Xuan Son, country operations manager of staffing and outsourcing from Manpower Group Vietnam, said cheap labor was both a strength and a weakness for Vietnam. Read more at:
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/vietnam-s-cheap-labor-advantage-doesn-t-come-cheap-4518021.html
