Australia will cooperate with Vietnam in enhancing Vietnamese workers’ skills in the near future, a counselor from the Australian Embassy said at a workshop this week.

Jen Bahen, education and research counselor at the Australian Embassy in Hanoi, made the statement when she attended the international seminar in the capital city on Monday, focusing on improving skills for the Vietnamese workforce amid the rebound of the labor market from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event, which marked the Vietnam Labor Skills Day (October 4), was organized by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs, in conjunction with the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Speaking at the event, Bahen emphasized today’s workers need to be equipped with essential skills to adapt to the digital era and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

In Australia, she said, the country has also provided refresher training to workers to help them meet the requirements of businesses in the context of the current COVID-19 epidemic, she said.

The diplomat recommended that Vietnam should have agencies that work with the national data center to make labor market analysis, provide vocational training forecasts, and introduce overall labor policies.

In addition to the current cooperation in the field of logistics, Vietnam and Australia will proceed with cooperating in developing vocational skills for Vietnamese workers in the near future, the counselor said.

It is necessary to build capability criteria for each profession and sector, and to train and develop skills for workers to match the supply and demand of the labor market.

Young workers must adapt to new training programs and have enough skills to meet business needs, the diplomat said.

Meanwhile, many other delegates looked into the impacts of the pandemic as well as the Fourth Industrial Revolution on Vietnam’s market, and how to equip local workers with skills to adapt to the industrial revolution.

Addressing the seminar, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha said the ministry has cooperated with relevant agencies in implementing programs on skill development to meet the labor market requirements and the country’s socio-economic development objectives.

The ministry, in conjunction with relevant organizations, will conduct the 12th National Vocational Skill Competition, expected in December, and send elite candidates to ASEAN and world vocational skill exams.

It will also organize an international forum on the future of employment amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with the theme of developing essential skills for young Vietnamese people.

The ministry will make the best use of the opinions given by foreign and local experts in drafting a project for upskilling Vietnamese workers, Ha said.

By the end of the second quarter of this year, Vietnam had 51.1 million workers, of whom only 26.1 percent underwent training, according to the latest reports from the Vietnam labor ministry and ILO.

Vietnam is striving to upgrade its vocational education to the level of ASEAN 4 countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines) by 2030 and to the level of G20 countries by 2045.

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