Vietnam planned to send 90,000 guest workers abroad this year, but so far only 70,000 workers have been sent, achieving only 80 percent of the projected target, according to the Department for Overseas Labour Management.

Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, Head of the department, said that countries are limiting their labour imports due to the global economic crisis. Also for a variety of reasons, many Vietnamese guest workers have returned home before their deadline.

It is forecast that the world economy will gradually recover to keep the momentum of labour imports going in 2010. So the department has already worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and businesses to exploit new markets for Vietnamese guest workers, apart from traditional markets, such as Taiwan, Malaysia, the Middle East, the Republic of Korea and Libya.

According to the Government’s project to help people in poor districts work overseas, more than 600 workers have been sent abroad and 3,000 others are still undergoing training in tourism, hospitality, construction and welding at the request of businesses overseas.

(Source: VOVNEWS)