Vietnam’s productivity is 15 times lower than Singapore’s

Vietnam’s productivity is 15 times lower than Singapore’s

The labor productivity of Vietnam is far than that of many other countries in Asia-Pacific, and was among the region’s lowest in 2013, the International Labor Organization (ILO) says.

The ILO shared this information in a report released at a forum held in Hanoi on Thursday to discuss the impact of the ASEAN Economic Community on the labor market in Vietnam.

There is a big gap in productivity between Vietnam and other ASEAN countries with medium income per capita, ILO said.

Last year, Vietnam’s productivity was only one-fifth and two-fifths of Malaysia’s and Thailand’s, respectively.

It was 10 times lower than that of South Korea, 11 times lower than Japan’s, and 15 times lower than in Singapore, the study says.

Since 2008, Vietnam’s average annual productivity growth has been only 3.3 percent, much lower than the 5.2 percent achieved from 2002-2007, ILO said.

Less than 20 percent of Vietnam’s workforce is trained properly, and many Vietnamese workers do not meet the requirements of the labor market, ILO said.

A recent survey showed that in the Mekong Delta only one in every 10 workers is trained, the organization said.

In another survey of more than 200 businesses in Central Vietnam, all the respondents said that most graduates from vocational schools did not meet their requirements.

At a seminar last year, Dr. Bui Si Loi, deputy chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Affairs, said that Vietnamese workers are inferior to their foreign counterparts in height, weight, and endurance.

Therefore, many Vietnamese laborers fail to meet requirements for operating machinery or equipment under international standards, Loi said.

In addition, the industrial discipline at Vietnamese businesses is generally looser than in foreign companies, he added.

According to reports released at the seminar, Vietnamese productivity was only 61.4 percent of the average productivity of ASEAN countries, and was equal to just 12 percent and 22 percent of the respective productivities of Singapore and Malaysia.

Vietnam’s productivity was only higher than those of Cambodia and Myanmar.

According to a recent ILO report on challenges and opportunities for businesses regarding the 2015 ASEAN Community, one of the biggest concerns facing businesses is that employees do not meet the qualifications required for their jobs – one of the leading causes of low productivity.

Nearly 50 percent of the employers in ASEAN countries that were involved in a recent survey said that many high school graduates did not possess skills necessary for their jobs, the report said.

tuoitrenews