Number of Vietnamese workers going abroad falls by 40 pct in H1

By Nguyen Quy July 2, 2020 | 06:00 pm PT

Vietnamese workers repatriated from Japan arrive at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi, May 25, 2020. Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Vietnam sent 33,500 guest workers overseas in the first half, a 40 percent year-on-year decline due to travel restrictions to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

The country has suspended all international flights since March 25, and many other countries too have also closed their borders.

Nguyen Gia Liem, deputy head of the Department of Overseas Labor, said many businesses in Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, the largest markets for Vietnamese labor, are seeking to hire Vietnamese workers to enable a resumption of operations, Vietnam News Agency reported.

They have assured they can meet local quarantine and monitoring requirements.

At a government meeting last week Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said guest workers could be sent abroad if they are accepted. Vietnam seeks to send 130,000 workers overseas in 2020.

According to statistics from the ministry, over 5,000 workers have returned home from abroad after many businesses were forced to lay off workers. Many flights have been organized in recent months to bring Vietnamese workers and students back from overseas.

More than 147,000 workers went abroad last year, up 3.2 percent from the previous year.

According to the International Organization for Migration, nearly 100,000 Vietnamese leave the country each year to live in more developed nations.

Vietnamese workers go abroad mainly for labor-intensive and low-skilled jobs. The country has a workforce of around 50 million.