The nation's social security system will provide conditional and non-conditional social aid, credit assistance, education and job training for millions of people despite the global economic crisis.
Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said this in an online Q&A on April 20.
Ngan affirmed that never before had the country approved so many social security policies and programmes, in which 62 of the poorest districts making up 50 per cent of the total poor population - had received pointed focus.
The Minister said that this aimed at narrowing the gap between rich and poor among regions in the country because the Cuu Long (Mekong) and the Red (Hong) River deltas had low poverty rates, while the northern mountainous areas and Central Highlands were suffering from high poverty rates.
More than 2.4 million people received support for their production, employment and income generation via offering them forest lands to grow timber trees, guiding them to restructure their farms and sending them to work overseas.
Many localities have adopted combined measures to help lift the most needy families out of poverty. Building new houses to replace dilapidated ones was one of the measures introduced.
Nguyen Minh Thang, a resident in northern Yen Bai province, wondered how it could be done to ensure the most needy people enjoy the benefits of these social security projects.
Ngan said that all poor people nationwide would receive support from the Government; however, local authorities responsible for reporting the number of poor households had not obeyed the legal procedures, leading to some miscalculations.
When the new poverty line is introduced next year, local relevant authorities would get more training to make proper reports on poor people to avoid problems. If anyone intentionally releases misinformation, they will be strictly punished, she added.
Ngan said that the existing poverty line VND200,000 (US$10.5) per person per month in the countryside and VND260,000 (US$13.6) for those living in urban areas which has been applied for five years, and is no longer suitable with the current situation.
Ngan said that the new poverty line would be approached in a multi-dimensional way so that more people in need of help would be the targets of the country's social security system.
People should know about this new poverty line to take advantage of their rights. Legal support for poor people should also become more focused, said Ngan.
Nguyen Huy Hoang, a resident in Ha Noi, wondered which people would receive non-conditional social aid.
Nguyen Xuan Lap, deputy head of the ministry's Social Welfare Department, said that there are more than 1.3 million people, including orphans, elderly without family and those over 80 without a pension, the disabled, HIV-positive people who can not work, families with more than two disabled members and single-parent families under the poverty line and they all need monthly non-conditional social aid.
Ngan said that coupled with this financial aid, these people could also get other support, such as free health insurance.
Many expressed worry over the increasing number of unemployed people and increases in labour accidents.
Minister Ngan said that there were more than 133,000 unemployed people last year, which was higher than in previous years, but even with this more than 1.6 million jobs were created. This was understandable in the global economic crisis.
Ngan said that it is necessary to raise the capabilities of labourers to meet employers' demands and minimise labour accidents, because currently only 30 percent of labourers had proper qualifications and experience.
Nghiem Trong Tuan, General Deputy Director of the ministry's General Vocational Training Department, said that to improve the quality of vocational training schools, the Government has approved a five-year project worth VND5.5 trillion (US$289 million) to apply modern teaching and studying methods, reform training programmes and improve teacher quality.
Tuan said that the vocational training schools that has yet to meet the criteria for teaching and studying activities would surely be shut down.
Nguyen Thi Hai Van, deputy head of the ministry's Labour and Employment Department, said that a fund for creating jobs worth VND4 trillion (US$210 million) had been set up to help create jobs.
The processing and trading units and households who are the targets of the fund could borrow up to VND500 million (US$26,000) for each project, said Van, adding that, this fund has annually created up to 300,000 jobs.
