Hanoi (VNA) 🃏– The Government recently issued Resolution No. 11/NQ-CP on the socio-economic recovery and development programme, under which a number of support policies for workers will be implemented right in the first half of 2022.

Giving house rental aid to workers

Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Le Van Thanh said to quickly recover and develop production and business activities and fuel growth momentum, with priority given to some important sectors, the Government issued the socio-economic recovery and development programme on January 30. One of the groups of measures in this programme is to guarantee social security and give employment assistance for workers. The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) is planning an aid package worth about 6.6 trillion VND (284.1 million USD) to cover part of workers’ house rental. The cash assistance will cover three-month house rental for workers who are renting houses and working at industrial parks, export processing zones or key economic zones, along with those returning to the labour market. Accordingly, the people working at industrial parks, export processing zones or key economic zones will receive monthly aid of 500,000 VND, which stands at 1 million VND for the ones previously coming back to their hometowns and now returning to work. Apart from cash assistance, the Government has also promulgated a lending policy to help create, maintain, and expand jobs for workers and help them buy or rent houses. Total funding for these policies is 25 trillion VND at the maximum. Besides, other support policies have also been introduced to help enterprises resume operations. In particular, the Government will continue supplying capital for the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies to provide loans for employers to give furlough pay to their employees. Deputy Minister Thanh said the MoLISA will continue working to increase linking labour supply and demand nationwide; set up, upgrade, and modernise training establishments, especially high-quality and key colleges; and boost digital transformation in vocational education.

Speeding up aid delivery

Assoc. Prof. and Dr. Vu Quang Tho, former Director of the Institute for Workers and Trade Unions under the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, said the Government’s issuance of support policies is a timely move and meets the aspiration of workers in industrial parks and export processing zones. He noted workers face numerous difficulties due to the pandemic. Though the aid is just 500,000 - 1 million VND per month, it is highly valuable and can be considered a source of encouragement for labourers. To a country that is not rich like Vietnam, spending trillions of VND on assisting workers is an enormous endeavor by the Government amid a myriad of difficulties. Than Duc Viet, General Director of the Garment 10 Corporation, also highly valued the Government’s aid packages but expressed his concern that the delivery of cash assistance will encounter barriers in terms of time and administrative procedures. It is necessary to speed up the aid delivery so that workers can benefit early, he noted, pointing out that not only after the pandemic, many businesses also have high recruitment demand after the Lunar New Year holiday. If the policies are not carried out in a timely manner, businesses may miss the recruitment season and subsequently their production plans, Viet added. Echoing the view, Tho held that state agencies should act more quickly to give support to workers. Policies need to be translated into action by reducing the waiting time, simplifying administrative procedures, and accelerating disbursement. Deputy Minister Thanh said the MoLISA has been building relevant legal documents since the start of the year and will submit the draft guidance for assistance delivery to the Government in the next few days. The package implementation will begin in February and last for the first half of 2022./.