Vietnamese workforce urged to improve skills to deal with risk of automation: ILO

Vietnam's workforce is urged to improve skills to deal with the changing nature of work in the era of technology, when low-skilled workers will be at risk of automation, International Labor Organization (ILO) said on Wednesday.

According to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) Vice Minister Dao Hong Lan, the country's labor force will grow from 55.5 million in 2016 to 62 million in 2025.

Meanwhile, ILO said in its study entitled "ASEAN in transformation: How technology is changing jobs and enterprises" that 86 percent of Vietnam's textile, clothing and footwear workers could face a high risk of automation.

About three quarters of wage workers in electronic and electrical products sector could also be replaced by robots in the coming decades.

These are the country's key exports, accounting for around 40 percent of the total manufacturing jobs, said ILO.

The ILO suggested that Vietnam enhance relevant skills of the workforce through close collaboration between policy makers, employers and training institutions to modernize the skills development system to fit the changing workplace dynamics and new technology innovations.

Also, young generations should be encouraged to follow academic pursuits in science, technology, engineering and mathematics as these scientific disciplines are commonly sought after by employers in manufacturing, according to ILO.

"In order to better the demand for jobs of workers, annually, the economy needs to create roughly 650,000 jobs and the structural change of labor will be one of the feasible ways to increase labor productivity," said Dao Hong Lan. Endit