Minister Doan Mau Diep (Source: VNA)
Like other countries, global economic downturn has worsened unemployment and underemployment in Vietnam , particularly among young workers, Diep told more than 5,000 delegates coming from 185 member countries of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to the conference where employment is one of their main discussion topics.
Confronting this emerging issue, the Government of Vietnam adopted a national youth employment programme with an aim to develop high quality young workforce, to meet the demand of socio-economic development, he said at the 101st session which last from May 30-June 13.
“Creating employment, increasing the quality of education, building employability skills, business start-up skills, improving vocational guidance, reducing unemployment, improving the system of employment service centres are key objectives of the strategy,” he said.
Moreover, to promote the development of policies and programmes on employment, including youth employment, the President of Vietnam last month ratified the Convention on Employment Policy 122. The country is also speeding up the process of drafting the Employment Law to submit to the National Assembly for approval in 2013, he added.
Diep said 2012 marked the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the ILO Office in Hanoi . Over the past 10 years, the cooperation between Vietnam and ILO has produced impressive results.
Vietnam successfully completed the first Decent Work Country Programme 2006-2010.
Last May in Hanoi, the Vietnamese Government, social partners and the ILO jointly signed the second Decent Work Country Programme 2012-2016 with three strategic objectives, including decent employment and sustainable enterprise development; social protection and addressing decent work needs of disadvantaged groups; and labour market institutions and governance, he added.
According to ILO, the world is facing a worsening youth employment crisis: young people are three times more likely to be unemployed than adults and over 75 million youth worldwide are looking for work.
The ILO has warned of a “scarred” generation of young workers facing a dangerous mix of high unemployment, increased inactivity and precarious work in developed countries, as well as persistently high working poverty in the developing world.
During the 101st conference, the Vietnamese delegation met with the newly-elected ILO General Director Guy Ryder and are holding discussions with the head delegates of ASEAN and several other countries.