ILO Funds $4.56M to Support Sustainable Employment in Vietnam by 2016

The International Labor Organization (ILO) will finance $4.56 million to support sustainable employment in Vietnam for the 2012-2016 period, the government said on its website. The ILO announced the funding at the first meeting of the Vietnam National Steering Committee on Sustainable Employment held in Hanoi on Sept 24. Of the sum, about $3 million will be used to support the development of labor relations and salary policy reforms including the drafting of a Law on Minimum Wage and the implementation of the Labor Code and the amended Trade Union Law. Meanwhile, around $1.25 million will be used to help small- and medium-sized enterprises increase productivity and access to the market and promote rights of workers and people with disabilities. The government of Luxembourg has recently contributed EUR980,000 ($1.27 million) to the ILO to support the job creation for young rural laborers in four countries, including Vietnam. ILO Director in Vietnam Gyorgy Sziraczki said that sustainable job creation for everybody including the poor and the vulnerable group is a key to Vietnam’s success in poverty reduction and human resources development. According to the ILO, around 1.3 million Vietnamese are currently unemployed with over a half of them aged 15-24. And the trend is on the rise. Worse still, around 69% of female workers and 54% of male workers are listed in the vulnerable group, added the ILO. (Thoi Bao Kinh Te Saigon – Saigon Times Daily Sept 24)