Open door to labor export

Japan's labor market remains attractive

Recently, the Japanese Yen has depreciated, making many people hesitant to go to this market to work. However, in many aspects, the Japanese labor market still has many suitable and attractive factors for Vietnamese workers. In 2024, there will be more than 3,300 Hai Duong workers going to Japan to work under contracts, second only to the Taiwan market (China).

Kiyokawa Human Resources Joint Stock Company (Hai Duong City) has been licensed by the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs to train and send workers to work in Japan. This year, the company continues to recruit workers to Japan for orders: food processing, mechanics, garment, construction, engineering... with costs ranging from 72 - 100 million VND/person.

The representative of this company said that although it is only mid-February, the company has completed flight procedures for 6 groups to work in Japan (each group has 3-7 people). This shows that the Japanese market still attracts Vietnamese workers. "The cost is reasonable, the income is stable compared to some other traditional markets. And especially, workers who go to Japan to work, after returning home, will receive a subsidy when working and paying insurance up to hundreds of millions of VND, so this market is chosen by many people", said the representative of Kiyokawa Human Resources Joint Stock Company.

According to Mr. Le Van Binh, Director of NewStar DVB Group Education Joint Stock Company (Hai Duong City), although the yen has fallen in value, the Japanese market is still the choice of many people. In particular, workers who have graduated from college or university majoring in mechanics, electricity, electronics, etc. In addition to stable jobs and high incomes, those who come under the engineer category in these professions also enjoy many attractive policies from businesses and the host country.

That is also the reason why in 2025, Hai Duong province organized a number of cooperation programs with potential localities in Japan to promote sending Hai Duong workers to work. Most recently, on February 14, Vice Chairman of Hai Duong Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Minh Hung had a working session with the delegation of Fukushima City (Japan) led by Mr. Hiroshi Kohata, Mayor of the city.

One of the issues of interest to both sides is creating conditions for Hai Duong workers to go to Fukushima to work. Accordingly, Mayor Hiroshi Kohata hopes to have the opportunity to exchange and cooperate in medical personnel with Hai Duong province. Fukushima City will create conditions for Hai Duong people to come to the city to work in the field of nursing and health.

Previously, on January 10, the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Hai Duong province had a direct working session with the Department of Foreign Personnel Policy of Kagoshima province (Japan). At the meeting, the two sides discussed and resolved some current problems in recruiting Hai Duong workers to work in Kagoshima.

Mr. Takada Shin, Director of the Kagoshima Prefecture Foreign Personnel Policy Division, said that Kagoshima Prefecture is planning to budget for 2025, including a plan to develop a self-study Japanese application for workers, which is expected to be provided free of charge to those working in Kagoshima Prefecture. In addition, Kagoshima Prefecture will organize exchanges, technology transfer, and training courses for engineers and experts in the agricultural sector, which are issues that both sides mentioned at the meeting.

In order to soon send workers from Hai Duong province to work in Kagoshima province, Hai Duong province has raised the issue of wanting to soon have direct working sessions with labor receiving companies in Kagoshima province to grasp more information about job opportunities for workers in Hai Duong. In addition to the fields of agriculture and construction, the target is high-income, stable industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, electronic components, etc.

The goal is to send about 5,000 workers to work abroad.

In 2025, the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Hai Duong province aims to send about 5,000 people to work abroad under labor contracts, focusing on markets with high and stable incomes such as Taiwan (China), Japan, and South Korea. In addition, it also targets markets with good welfare regimes for workers, and skilled occupations such as nursing in the Federal Republic of Germany. These are also markets that are favored by many Hai Duong workers.

After much deliberation, Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong (born in 1996, in Ung Hoe commune, Ninh Giang) decided to go to Taiwan to work. According to Mr. Cuong, the cost of going to Taiwan is quite cheap while the job market here has a very high demand. If he works hard, he will recover his capital (about 150 million VND) in just 6 months.

"In early 2025, I and about 10 people from Hai Duong went to Taipei City (Taiwan, China) to work. The work is hard but in return the income is very stable. After deducting expenses, I can save more than 20 million VND per month. Compared to other labor export markets, Taiwan is still the destination of many Hai Duong workers," said Mr. Cuong.

On February 14, Mr. Hoang Van Hai (Hai Duong City) had an interview with the German Embassy to go to Germany to work as a skilled worker. Mr. Hai said that he would wait about a week to know the result. However, Mr. Hai was quite confident that he would pass because his application was very complete according to the requirements of the receiving unit in Germany. He also answered the German questions quite well during the interview.

According to Mr. Hai, working in Germany is currently quite expensive compared to some traditional markets in Asia that are popular with Hai Duong workers. However, through research, he found that the German market has a fairly good income and more welfare programs. Therefore, he is willing to spend money to work in this country.

To achieve high results in sending workers to work abroad under labor contracts, the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Hai Duong has promptly implemented plans to recruit workers to work abroad in localities in the province (especially non-profit programs such as going to Korea under the EPS Program, the internship program in Japan). Strengthen propaganda work so that workers understand and avoid labor export fraud. Coordinate with localities to strictly manage organizations and individuals recruiting local workers to work abroad.