Vietnam budgets US$260 million to train workers prone to unemployment

Tran Tuan Tu, head of the unemployment insurance division at the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs’ employment department, has said his ministry will seek approval for the programme from the government this month. 

The programme will draw VND6 trillion (US$259.5 million) from the Unemployment Insurance Fund to train workers.  

Each worker would receive about VND1 million (US$43) monthly for six months for their job training and the programme is expected to benefit about one million workers. 

Companies wanting to benefit from this programme must meet the following criteria: they should have paid unemployment insurance premiums for their workers for the previous 12 months, restructured their business or production model to cope with the adverse effects of the pandemic and furnish financial reports of the nearest quarter to prove their revenues fell by at least 20% from the same period in 2019. 

The programme is expected to be implemented within one year after it has been approved. 

At the end of 2020, the Unemployment Insurance Fund had around VND84 trillion (US$3.6 billion). Though money from the fund could be used to train workers who lose their jobs due to technological changes, companies have not been able to do so due to strict criteria. 

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Last year, over 1.1 million people filed for unemployment benefits, up 32% from 2019, mainly due to the pandemic. Around 43% of the applicants were from five industrialised cities and provinces of Hanoi, HCMC, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, and Long An. 

The pandemic has severely affected 90% of businesses, according to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the World Bank. Sectors worst affected included textiles, telecommunications and electrical appliance manufacturing, according to VNExpress.