As foreign-invested businesses always need high-quality human resources to apply new technologies, training skilled manpower is believed to help Vietnam attract more foreign investment.

Do Duc Tri, Deputy General Director of Nhan Kiet Supplying Manpower Co. Ltd., said the number of high-quality workers meeting foreign firms’ demand in Vietnam remains modest. Some sectors are facing manpower shortages such as information technology, semiconductor, electronics, and telecommunications.

In the final months of 2023, the company received foreign businesses’ orders for thousands of skilled workers, but was only able to meet 20-30% of the demand, he told the Lao dong (Labour) daily.

He blamed that fact on Vietnamese workers’ lack of skills and work experience, noting that to make up for the shortages of high-quality manpower, many foreign companies from the Republic of Korea, China, and Japan have brought workers from their countries to Vietnam, which is a big waste of opportunities for local workers.

In 2023, the rate of trained workers holding degrees and certificates reached 27-27.5%, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs.

Nguyen Thi Doan, former State President and President of the Vietnam Association of Promoting Education, noted the country’s human resources have yet to meet labour demand amid the current trend of digitalisation and modernisation. It is necessary to invest strongly in training, especially vocational training, to improve quality.

Pham Thi Thu Lan, Deputy Director of the Institute of Workers and Trade Unions, held that businesses should cooperate closely with schools to upgrade training equipment and infrastructure, invite experts, and design curricula matching their demand. To attract workers to training courses, state agencies also need to devise more practical support policies for them like increasing salary and covering training expenses.

She said intensive training for workers will help Vietnam secure human resources meeting requirements of the transition from labour-intensive industries to knowledge- and high technology-based sectors. It will enhance the country’s attractiveness to foreign businesses.

Nguyen Hong Dang, Deputy Director of the international training institute at the Bac Ha College of Technology, said that his school enrolls thousands of students each year for the branches with high recruitment demand from businesses and industrial parks, including about 600 students for electronic engineering alone.

The college is providing training according to orders of such large firms as Samsung (the Republic of Korea), Foxconn and BenQ (Taiwan, China), he went on.

As Vietnam is facing a shortage of high-quality human resources, the update, training, and improvement of workers’ knowledge and skills are of critical importance, Dang said, adding that his school will keep close cooperation to meet businesses’ high-quality manpower demand.

VNA