Seminar discusses labour productivity-competitiveness ties hinh anh 1Illustrative photo (Source: baohaiquan.vn)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) held a seminar in Hanoi on March 21 to seek to increase labour productivity to enhance national competitiveness.

VCCI Chairman Vu Tien Loc pointed out that Vietnam’s labour productivity, despite growth in recent years, is still below that of many countries in the region and in the world, particularly within ASEAN.

The shortcoming has been a barrier to the country’s target to have a fast and sustainable growth and improve economic competitiveness, he noted.

Echoing Loc’s view, Nguyen Duc Thanh, Director of the Vietnam Institute for Economic Policy and Research under the Vietnam National University-Hanoi, said Vietnam’s labour yield grew less than three times over the past 25 years.

According to him, the productivity of the workforces in Vietnam’s key sectors of industry and construction has long been unchanged, hindering overall economic growth. Enterprises are yet to give proper priority to technology update in support of their employees and create better working environment for them.

Participating experts suggested a need to improve the quality of vocational training following the application of advanced technologies in production.  Incentives are also necessary to encourage organisations and businesses to engage in researching and applying new technologies, they added.

Participants agreed that tackling the issue requires concerted efforts among macroeconomic management agencies and businesses. They said increasing labour productivity will shorten the development gap with other nations and time to have prosperity.-VNA 
VNA