Vocational degree holders target foreign labor markets

More than 9,000 people in Hai Duong province went to work abroad under contracts in the past nine months, about 10% of them were vocational degree or certificate holders.

Nguyen Van Tinh in Kim Thanh district, Hai Duong province decided to apply for a job in the Republic of Korea under the EPS program after having graduated in metal cutting at Hai Duong Vocational College.

Tinh is one of more than 200 laborers in the province registering to work in the manufacturing and construction industry in the Republic of Korea this time.

“Registrants have to take a Korean language test and a rigorous skill one. Those who methodically learnt professions, especially internationally recognized majors, like us have a better chance of being admitted. All skilled workers are prioritized to work in good positions and paid higher by their employers,” said Tinh.

Up to 15% of Hai Duong Vocational College graduates go to work overseas, and the rate tends to increase.

“Our trainees have good employment opportunities at home and a lot of advantages when working abroad thanks to thorough vocational training,” said principal Vu Trung Hieu.

Skilled workers can quickly get familiar with overseas jobs, Hieu said, adding that many graduates of his college held important positions in production lines of foreign businesses.

Nguyen Hoang Lam from Thanh Mien district graduated in cooking at the College of Tourism, Industry, and Trade in Cam Giang district.

He used to work as a chef at a four-star hotel in Ha Long city, Quang Ninh province, for two years.

Lam is now in charge of the main course at a restaurant specializing in Vietnamese and Thai cuisine in Germany’s capital city of Berlin.

The restaurant owner pays him 50 million VND/ month, much higher than in Vietnam, thanks to his degree and rich practical experience.

Hai Duong has been one of Vietnam’s leading localities in the number of people going to work abroad in recent years.

The province aims to send workers to high-income markets such as Australia, Germany, and some other European countries in the coming years. As a result, more attention is paid to requirements for laborers’ qualifications and skills.

Pham Ngoc Lan, Deputy Director of the Department of Overseas Labor under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs, emphasized that skills and foreign languages are strengths for Vietnamese workers to get a foothold abroad.

Lan made the remark a recent meeting with the provincial Department of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs on the situation of guest workers.

She believed that with the current trend of many vocational trainees in Hai Duong to work abroad after graduation, the quality of the province’s human resources for labor export will increase significantly.

The rate of trained and certified workers in Hai Duong province has continuously increased over the past five years (from 19.1% in 2016 to 31.5% in 2022). The 2022’s figure was 3% higher than in 2021 and 5.3% higher than the national average.

HAI MINH