Japan woos contract labourers

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According to Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs’ Overseas Labour Management Department (OLMD) figures, over 200 Vietnamese labourers left for Japan to work each month in the first three months of 2011. The figure sharply hiked to around 600 in April and slightly fell to around 500 in May.

The number of orders placed at the OLMD relevant to bringing Vietnamese labourers to work in Japan accounted for more than 70 per cent of labour export contracts local firms submitted to the department in recent months, according the OLMD.

“Vietnamese workers are generally appreciated by their Japanese employers. After the earthquake and tsunami disaster in March 2011 in Japan, their image in the eyes of Japanese employers was significantly enhanced,” said general director Nguyen Xuan Vui at Airseco, a labour export firm.

According to Vui, when the horrendous earthquake and tsunami took place in Japan, scores of Vietnamese labourers were calm and willingly shared difficulties with their enterprises. “That was why there was a sharp rise in the number of local labourers leaving for Japan in the past months,” Vui said.

“This is a good time to promote labour export to Japan,” said OLMD’s deputy head Le Van Thanh, adding that the department had just forwarded dispatches to the labour, war invalid and social affairs departments in a number of Central Highlands and Mekong Delta provinces such as Dak Nong, Soc Trang, Gia Lai, Kon Tum and Tra Vinh asking them to prepare each location 20 applicants to join the upcoming session to select manpower for further training and work in Japan.

Local labour export firms have reportedly signed contracts on supplying hundreds of labourers to Japanese firms. For instances, Airseco needs to enroll 200 labourers to work in diverse areas of auto spare parts manufacturing, metal plating, welding, food processing and garment in Japan. Besides, the Labour Overseas Development Joint Stock Company (LOD) wanted to recruit 300 labourers to work in shipbuilding, agricultural product processing and mechanical engineering areas in Japan.

Under the Vietnam-Japan trainee cooperative programme, when working in Japan, Vietnamese labourers do not have to advance deposits but only have to pay passport, visa and health check fees.