This has implications for the future as more foreign companies prepare to set up operations in the country.
A researcher from Ho Chi Minh City-based Education Research Institute under the Ministry of Education and Training, Ho Thieu Hung, says there are no individuals or organizations that have done thorough research on labor needs in the country.
“There is a lot of information on recruitment from the companies,” he said.
“But the information is not comprehensive or well-researched.”
Several industrial zones, including Dung Quat and Binh Duong, have established their own training centers to develop the human resources needed for companies who invest in them.
In the meantime, millions of university graduates, technicians, and trained workers graduate annually, but many have to suffer unemployment and unsuitable employment.
Analysts have laid the blame for this at the door of the education sector, saying it has failed to meet the real labor demands in the marketplace.
There is a rising demand for workers in information technology as many foreign companies will set up shop in this field soon.
In 2006, Intel decided to invest US$600 million to build a factory in Vietnam to produce computer chips and devices.
It is estimated that the company will recruit 4,000 employees by next year.
Taiwan-based Hon Hai Science and Technology Corp. has also decided to invest $5 billion to construct factories in Vietnam to produce electronic parts.
The company has said it would recruit 300,000 local workers.
The head of the Dung Quat Economic Zone in Quang Ngai Province, Tran Le Trung, says the zone would need 40,000 workers by 2015 to work in petrochemicals, metal refinery, electricity and welding industries.
Officials at the Nhon Hoi Economic Zone in Binh Dinh Province have said they need 30,000 workers to work in processing agricultural, aquaculture and forestry products, construction materials, petrochemicals, mechanical and tourism sectors.
The customs department is expected to double its workforce by 2020 and the tourism sector will need nearly two million workers by 2015.
The demand is clear.
What is not clear is how to ensure that the supply meets the demand.
For that, we need to understand the demand better and fashion our solutions via the education and training sector to meet it.
By My Quyen |
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