New regulations on unemployment insurance that took effect in January place emphasis on strengthening vocational training support to labourers, yet the number of vocational training participants is still limited.
This was announced in a talk “New regulations on unemployment insurance stated in Law on Employment: Challenges and Solutions” held by the online government website chinhphu.vn earlier this week.
In the last eleven months, nearly 480,000 employees have filed for unemployment compensation, more than 86 per cent of whom have received job consultations and recommendations, according to Deputy Head of Job Department, Le Quang Trung.
More than 22,000 people have received support in vocational training in the last eleven months, a 30 per cent increase compared to 2014’s number, according to Trung.
The number of the insured who take vocational training support had been on the rise over the years, said Trung.
Over the last five years, about 125,000 people came to the job centre to file for unemployment allowance and vocational training support, said Director of Ha Noi Job Service Centre, Nguyen Toan Phong.
Employees have become aware of the fact that they will have more chances to have a job with a higher salary if they take vocational training, said Trung.
New regulations
Commencing from January this year, unemployment insurance, which had been regulated by the Law on Social Insurance, have been stated in the Law on Employment.
The list of people required to participate in unemployment insurance includes all employers that hire or employ workers under labour contracts and expands to employees working under seasonal or job-based working contracts with a term of between three months and under 12 months, as well as under labour contracts of indefinite or definite time.
The insured will also get vocational training support for a period of no more than six months from the date he/ she receives a monthly unemployment benefit. The support amount is equivalent to the level of expense for a short term training course which may reach up to VND1 million (US$44) per month.
Low participation
In HCM City Job Service Centre, among 62,000 unemployment allowance recipients, only one per cent participated in a vocational training programme since early this year, according to Director of the centre, Tran Xuan Hai.
About 80 to 90 per cent of those filing for compensation were unskilled workers who often hesitated to participate in vocational training when being unemployed, Hai said.
The vocational training programmes available had not yet matched labourers’ needs and the allowance amount for vocational training was still low, which makes it hard to attract the unemployed to take a training programme, Hai said.
“To make the vocational training policy highly effective, there needs to be a balance between demand and supply of labourers. Businesses should offer job opportunities for the unemployed after they finish a vocational training course,” he said.
“The allowance amount for vocational training should be raised as most of the unemployed are unskilled workers without saving and they could hardly afford a vocational training course,” said former Head of Thu Duc Technology College, Nguyen Toan.
It was necessary that authorities forecast better about labour demand so that trainees can find it easier to find a job, said Toan.
Challenges in implementation
One of the challenges in implementing the policy was the low awareness of employees and employers on benefits of unemployment insurance, especially those in remote areas, said Trung.
In 2015, many businesses still failed to pay insurance, which affected labourers’ benefits.
In addition, labour management work was not effective and changes in labour were not well-controlled, said Trung.
The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs will follow the implementation of the policies in localities and make amendments when necessary, said Trung.
The ministry also welcomed feedback from employers and employees on unemployment insurance policies and strengthened inspection work and will punish violators.
The ministry also suggested employers create favourable conditions to retain employees, Trung added.
A collaboration among authorities, agencies and employers was also needed to make employees better aware of the benefits brought by unemployment insurance, said Phong.
news source & image credits: vietnamnews.vn
