Vietnamese people are now being given opportunities to work in the Republic of Korea (RoK) under various cooperation programs, as the RoK is recruiting more foreign workers to respond to its significantly changing demographic structure.

Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd (KAI) on August 2 announced the recruitment of 50 Vietnamese workers for small and medium-sized partners through GAET, a public enterprise under the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence.

Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Ba Hoan met with Kubo Yoshitomo, Deputy Chief Representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Vietnam, on August 1.

The first quarter of 2024 witnessed a significant surge in Vietnamese workers venturing abroad for employment, with a staggering 35,933 individuals seeking opportunities overseas.

There are roughly 650,000 Vietnamese labourers working in 40 countries and territories around the world, according to estimated data from the Department of Overseas Labor Management under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

A fire and explosion at a factory in Pingtung county of Taiwan (China) on September 22 injured 19 Vietnamese citizens, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Many Vietnamese guest workers in Japan have decided to leave the country as the yen’s recent depreciation has badly affected their lives.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has instructed its Consular Department to contact the Philippine Embassy in Vietnam and ask for support in assisting the Vietnamese citizens among the over 1,000 forced labourers recently rescued in Pampanga province.

South Korea is seeking to employ more than 12,000 Vietnamese workers this year, mainly for the manufacturing and fishery industries, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Nearly 28,500 Vietnamese went to work abroad in the first two months of this year, a 20-fold increase compared to the same period last year.

Vietnamese nationals account for 25.4% of the total 1.82 million foreign workers who were working in Japan as of the end of October last year, according to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW).

More businesses are being encouraged to create training programmes before and after sending Vietnamese workers overseas, in order for human resources potential to not be wasted on their return.

Many low-skilled overseas Vietnamese workers are struggling on their return home, finding it difficult to settle in and find new jobs in the face of fierce domestic competition.

Nguyen Tien Thanh has returned to his hometown in the central province of Nghe An for three years after working in Japan. The 34-year-old man is working as a construction worker after failing to find a better job in a Japanese firm in the area.

Over 1 million Vietnamese nationals have been sent abroad to work in the past decade, up nearly 40% from the figure recorded in the pre-2012 period, according to a report delivered at a nationwide conference held in Hanoi on August 25.

The procuracy agency of Osaka has proposed a sentence of 18 years in jail for a Dominican man who allegedly murdered a Vietnamese student in the Japanese prefecture.

Japanese authorities have decided to revoke the permit of Okayama Sangyo Gijutsu Kyodo Kumiai after it failed to prevent the physical abuse of a Vietnamese man by his Japanese co-workers at a construction firm.

Authorities of Japan on February 18 withdrawn the licence to receive foreign interns of a construction company where a Vietnamese apprentice was mistreated.

This was a fourth consecutive year that Vietnam remains in the top 10 in terms of remittance.