Strategies to enhance value of Vietnamese labour needed: NA Deputy
WVR - Dr. Pham Trong Nghia, National Assembly Deputy of the Lang Son Delegation, member of the National Assembly's Social Committee, said that Vietnam is among the countries with the highest labour productivity growth rate in the ASEAN region.
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| Develop strategies to enhance value of Vietnamese labour: According to National Assembly Deputy Pham Trong Nghia, Vietnam is one of the countries with the highest labor productivity growth rate in the ASEAN region. (Photo: Quochoi.vn) |
Focus on investment for human resource development
How do you evaluate Vietnam's labour productivity in recent years?
On a national scale, labour productivity is extremely important, a key factor determining the competitiveness of the entire economy. On the other hand, it can be said that high labour productivity is the key to national prosperity.
In recent times, Vietnam's labour productivity has improved significantly. Vietnam is one of the countries with the highest labour productivity growth rate in the ASEAN region. Labour productivity growth rate in the period 2011-2015 is 4.53%/year, the period 2016-2020 is 5.97%/year.
However, due to a low starting point and the growth rate is not fast enough, the gap in labour productivity between Vietnam and other countries in the region is still very wide. According to World Bank data in 2020, Vietnam's labour productivity at purchasing power parity is only 9.1% of Singapore's; equal to 26.2% of Malaysia; 46.8% of Thailand and 68.7% of the Philippines. The 2020 report of the Asian Productivity Organization also shows that Vietnam's labour productivity is 10 years behind Thailand, 40 years behind Malaysia and 60 years behind Japan.
What must we do to catch up with other countries in the region?
According to Report No. 577/BC-CP dated October 20, 2023 submitted to the National Assembly, the social labour productivity growth target in 2023 did not meet the set target due to a number of main reasons: Economic growth is lower than the target. Second, industrial production, construction, and real estate are facing difficulties, a part of workers are moving to the service sector, mainly informal occupations with lower labor productivity.
Third, a portion of workers change jobs and need time to learn and adapt.
Besides, there are also long-term causes due to limited quality of human resources and lack of vocational skills; The labour structure by economic sector is not reasonable, the leading role of intra-industry labor productivity has not been promoted, and the application of technology and techniques in production and business is still limited.
According to calculations by the International Labor Organization (ILO), if labor productivity increases by 1%, the GDP of the entire economy increases by 0.94 percentage points. On the other hand, without drastic solutions, Vietnam's labour productivity could lag further behind other countries in the region, and the risk of falling into the middle-income trap is possible. Our Party has identified rapid development of human resources, especially high-quality human resources, as one of three strategic breakthroughs.
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| Strategies to enhance value of Vietnamese labour needed: Illustrative image. (Photo: VGP) |
Therefore, it is necessary to focus more investment on human resource development. It is necessary to develop and promulgate a National Strategy or Target Program on human resource development.
One of the important factors that determine the rate of labour productivity growth is the quality of human resources. Could you point out international experience in improving the quality of human resources?
Even in the ASEAN region, Singapore has clearly determined that the country's economic development relied mainly on service industries such as health care, high technology development, etc. To do that, Singapore has attracted high quality human resources come to work with good salaries and benefits and favorable immigration policies. Therefore, Singapore possesses good human resources and these human resources have contributed to their current economic development.
Another example, Korea is a country with a low starting point. In the 1960s, Korea's GDP was only equal to Vietnam's in the late 1980s. But now they have made miraculous developments. In each stage of growth, Korea always sets the top goal of training a corresponding human force to meet the needs of the market. They completely changed the salary regime, treated talent and made breakthroughs in science and technology, inviting leading Korean experts from around the world to work with high salaries and good incentives.
Shifting from quantity to quality of "golden" population
Our country is in a period of golden population, what do you think about the advantages and barriers?
Our country is in a golden population period with a strong labor force of 52.3 million people, ranking third in the ASEAN region. However, the quality of labor is not high, the rate of newly trained workers is more than 67% and the rate of newly certified workers is around 27%. If we do not have policies to take advantage of opportunities and promote the strengths of the golden population period, this will be a huge waste, with negative impacts in many aspects.
The quality of human resources is the basic factor that determines labour productivity, and high labour productivity is the key to national prosperity. According to the International Labour Organization, if labour productivity increases by 1%, the GDP of the entire economy increases by 0.94 percentage points. Our Party has identified rapid development of human resources, especially high-quality human resources, as one of three strategic breakthroughs.
Meanwhile, the golden population period is a period that only occurs once in the development process of each country. In our country, the period of golden population is expected to end in 2038. Therefore, in my opinion, we need to maximize the advantage of golden population for socio-economic development, proactively accumulate to have resources copping with the aging population.
What solutions do you recommend to convert "gold" in quantity to "gold" in quality?
That's right, currently, Vietnam is in a golden population period with a strong labor force. The important issue is that to move from the period of "golden" population in terms of quantity to "golden" in terms of quality, there must be an overall and comprehensive solution.
In my opinion, first, it is necessary to urgently promulgate the Human Resources Development Strategy for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2045 on the basis of summarizing, evaluating, and implementing this strategy in the period 2011-2020. Develop a project to attract and utilize talented people. Research on comprehensive innovation of working regimes in the public sector; Improve culture and public service ethics.
In addition, the National Assembly has issued many important documents to institutionalize and practically implement the Party's views on three strategic breakthroughs. Among them, there are highlights such as: For the strategic breakthrough in institutional improvement, the National Assembly Standing Committee has issued Plan No. 81 with 137 legislative tasks of the 15th National Assembly term
For the strategic breakthrough in building infrastructure systems, the National Assembly has decided that the total medium-term investment capital of the state budget for the period of 2021 - 2025 is 2.8 million billion VND, an increase of 37% compared to the previous period from 2016 - 2020, with most of the increased amount are for infrastructure development.
The National Assembly has also approved national plans to orient the country's development. However, there is still no comprehensive program at the National Assembly level related to strategic breakthroughs in human resources. Therefore, as mentioned above, it is necessary to develop a National Program targeting on human resource development.
Second, build and promulgate the National Strategy on developing intellectuals for the period 2021-2030 to institutionalize Conclusion No. 52-KL/TW dated May 30, 2019 of the Party Central Committee's Secretariat. Build a mechanism to bridge the gap between the labour market and the education system to solve the problem of supply and demand imbalance. Quickly deploy and organize the implementation of the National Program on increasing labour productivity. On August 11, 2023, the Prime Minister issued Decision 1305/QD-TTg approving the National Program on increasing labor productivity to 2030, which determined the goal of striving to be among the group of 3 ASEAN countries. on labor productivity growth rate by 2030. On November 8, 2023, the Prime Minister issued Decision 1305/QD-TTg approving the National Program on increasing labour productivity to 2030, which identifies the goal of striving to be among the group of 3 ASEAN countries leading on labour productivity growth rate by 2030.
Third, along with strategies for developing and effectively using domestic human resources, it is necessary to develop a strategy to attract the enormous resources of more than 5.3 million overseas Vietnamese abroad, especially attracting scientists, experts in social management, administration. To do so, the National Assembly deputy proposed creating a working environment that is attractive enough for scientists and experts to confidently return to work and contribute to their homeland.
Finally, it is necessary to develop a strategy to enhance the value of Vietnamese labour and gradually say no to cheap labour.
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