Vietnam is moving away from a "cheap labour" workforce to one more skilled to better compete in a climate of global integration, a senior industry minister said.
Labour costs in Vietnam may increase after TPP integration
Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Tran Tuan Anh told a US Congress delegation that cheap labour proved to be Vietnam’s advantage when the country initially entered integration in order to attract foreign investment, but the country was moving towards improving the quality of its workforce.
Anh said Vietnam will pay more attention to the development of high-tech industry, focusing on competitive products, along with boosting the development of precision engineering, electronics, the environment, and consumer goods industries in the next five years.
Vietnam has been stepping up the privatisation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in order to realise its target to privatise some 90 percent of SOEs by the end 2015.
“The government of Vietnam will offer foreign investors opportunities to buy stakes in privatised enterprises,” he said.
US investors say labour costs in Vietnam may increase after the country signs the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), and foreign investors may switch to other countries with cheaper workers, such as Laos and Cambodia.
In order to simplify procedures for domestic and foreign investors, the Industry and Trade Ministry is implementing a programme of one-stop customs services.