Russia closes market, lays off 400 Vietnamese

Russian authorities Tuesday closed down the Emeral market in Moscow, driving away some 400 Vietnamese traders.

The closure follows an inspection tour headed by Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin who concluded a number of retail markets there did not meet safety and hygiene standards.

Dong Minh Du, a Vietnamese student who used to work at the Emeral market, told Tuoi Tre Moscow authorities would continue to clear other markets in the area next year.

“How can we make a living? I heard Russian authorities would ban all foreign retailers next year as well,” Vietnamese trader Nguyen Van Tinh was quoted by Lao Dong newspaper as saying.

“It never rains but it pours. We have just begun our new life after the Dome Market was closed”.

He was referring to the Cherkizovsky Market, known by Vietnamese traders as Cho Vom (Dome Market) which was closed last year, putting 100,000 people, mostly immigrants, out of work.

Vietnamese traders and workers made up nearly half of those who lost their livelihoods when Cherkizovsky was closed.

The 28-hectare Emeral market is operated by mostly traders from Russia and former Soviet Union countries, and a number of Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Indian and Arabian traders.

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Labor market faces diverse challenges

High levels of redundancy and a low ratio of skilled workers are major problems for fulfillment of the labor market development strategy for 2011-20, said the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) at a workshop on Thursday.

The workshop, co-sponsored by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and held in the nation’s most populous Ho Chi Minh City, revealed that if part of the workforce is withdrawn, there would be no change in national production outputs.

Agricultural labor’s domination is evidence of the low quality of the labor market.

The GDP-employment ratio of 0.28, namely when the GDP rises one percent, the employment rate goes up by just 0.28 percent, is low in the region.

Underemployment is another problem. In 2008, the country witnessed 1.43 million underemployed, of whom 1.4 million came from countryside.

Labor costs in Vietnam are considered cheap, with minimum and base salaries meeting just 60-65 percent of basic living costs.

The quality of human resources fails to meet market demands. Statistics in 2009 showed that skilled workers made up just seven percent of the labor force.

The labor market revealed some other weak points related to the legal system, dialogue mechanism, labor security and flexibility, social welfare and support for vulnerable groups.

Lin Lean Lim, a senior expert from the ILO, said the competitive edge of Vietnamese labor was on a downward trend.

She said one of the main causes was that human resource quality improvements were placed on hold while economic growth and scientific and technological infrastructure were multiplied.

She called on Vietnam to gear human resources development to market demands and said a worker should master one skill but be capable of applying it to different jobs and in different conditions.

MOLISA forecasts that the labor force would grow by almost 500,000 in each of the next 10 years, bringing the total number to 53.14 million by 2020.

The national labor market development strategy for the 2011-20 period targets at 58.5 percent of skilled workers and a reduction of farmers to 31 percent from the current 51 percent.

Unemployment is estimated at 1.72 million by 2020, and the number of insured workers will be 15.7 million.

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Labour market faces diverse challenges

High levels of redundancy and a low ratio of skilled workers are major problems for fulfilment of the labour market development strategy for 2011-20, said the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) at a workshop on August 19.

The workshop, co-sponsored by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and held in the nation’s most populous Ho Chi Minh City , revealed that if part of the workforce is withdrawn, there would be no change in national production outputs.

Agricultural labour’s domination is evidence of the low quality of the labour market.

The GDP-employment ratio of 0.28, namely when the GDP rises one percent, the employment rate goes up by just 0.28 percent, is low in the region.

Underemployment is another problem. In 2008, the country witnessed 1.43 million underemployed, of whom 1.4 million came from countryside.

Labour costs in Vietnam are considered cheap, with minimum and base salaries meeting just 60-65 percent of basic living costs.

The quality of human resources fails to meet market demands. Statistics in 2009 showed that skilled workers made up just seven percent of the labour force.

The labour market revealed some other weak points related to the legal system, dialogue mechanism, labour security and flexibility, social welfare and support for vulnerable groups.

Lin Lean Lim, a senior expert from the ILO, said the competitive edge of Vietnamese labour was on a downward trend.

She said one of the main causes was that human resource quality improvements were placed on hold while economic growth and scientific and technological infrastructure were multiplied.

She called on Vietnam to gear human resources development to market demands and said a worker should master one skill but be capable of applying it to different jobs and in different conditions.

MOLISA forecasts that the labour force would grow by almost 500,000 in each of the next 10 years, bringing the total number to 53.14 million by 2020.

The national labour market development strategy for the 2011-20 period targets at 58.5 percent of skilled workers and a reduction of farmers to 31 percent from the current 51 percent.

Unemployment is estimated at 1.72 million by 2020, and the number of insured workers will be 15.7 million./.

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