[Vietnam] Labor export could help alleviate poverty: official

from Thanh Nien Daily

Involving more people from disadvantaged regions in labor export is a crucial step in eliminating poverty, a government official told a conference Tuesday on labor export in the Mekong Delta.

“A poor family with one member working overseas will live more comfortably after just a few years. Likewise, a commune with some 500-1,000 migrant workers will quickly be better off,” said Nguyen Luong Trao, standing deputy minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs at the conference.

Sending people overseas to work from underprivileged areas in the Mekong Delta over the past three years has greatly benefited them and their families, Trao said further.

He also called for smooth coordination between companies and locality leaders in recruiting and training workers to ensure their labor forces are qualified and compete effectively with regional counterparts.

However, migrant workers have difficulty accessing loans, without anything to mortgage to meet tough bank regulations, attendees told the conference.

Some 3,500 locals went to work abroad last year but only one was granted a modest bank loan, Dinh Cong Minh, director of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs in An Giang province reported.

Provincial authorities acted themselves by lending the workers VND26.9 billion (US$1.7 million), remarkably raising the number of migrant workers and generating massive economic benefits since, Minh said further.

The ministry has also submitted a bill on labor export to the government while working with relevant agencies in drafting circulars which define penalties on migrant workers’ infringements, and helps settle disputes between recruiters and workers.