According to the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), of 161 labor exporting companies in Vietnam, only 30 percent work effectively. However, by June 2010, only four firms had their licences revoked. Why?

Vietnamese workers in Malaysia.

Nguyen Luong Trao, the Chair of the Labor Export Association, explained at a meeting with the National Assembly Standing Committee in early September that the MoLISA couldn’t revoke licences of ineffective labor exporters because the law doesn’t allow it.

Trao said that some companies sent abroad only 100 workers for the entire of past year but  since no legal regulation was violated the MoLISA didn’t have any reason to withdraw their labor exporting licences.

Trao’s argument was rejected by deputy Nguyen Nhu Loisaid that while swindling in labor export has become more acute, the fraudulent firms are not being punished.

A report of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies named many companies that violated the regulations on labor export. These companies collected billions dong from workers but didn’t send them abroad. The violators were only asked to return the money to the workers, without any facing any punishment..

Nguyen Van Thuan, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee for Law, said that most labor exporting firms in Vietnam are inefficient. He questioned: “Why management agencies don’t revoke the licences from the companies that export less than 100 workers a year?”

Bui Sy Loi, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Issues, said that most labor exporting licences are granted to corporations and groups but they are then given to their subsidiaries. The subsidiaries again set up branches, which are illegible, in the end resulting in many problems with manpower export.

Truong Thi Mai, Chair of the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Issues, added that of 167 labor exporting companies in Vietnam, only 17 send more than 1000 workers overseas, 29 send 500-1000 workers, 50 send 300-500 and 52 less than 100 workers a year.

Mai urged government agencies to strengthen control over manpower exporting firms.

Vietnam sent more than 58,700 workers abroad in the January-September period of 2010, equal to 68 percent of the year's set target. Taiwan is the biggest market, which recruited more than 20,600 labourers, followed by Malaysia, which employed over 6,100 workers. Other major markets include the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Laos, the Republic of Korea and Libya, which employ between 3,400-5,000 Vietnamese laborers.

Source: VNN