Vietnamese labourers struggle amid Industrial Revolution 4.0

ABO - The fourth industrial revolution has been commonly heard recently. What are the impacts of the revolution on labourers and what should firms do to mitigate the adverse impacts and claim benefits brought by the revolution?

The price for high-precision mechanical parts ranges from 265 to 1300 USD while its material cost is only some 5 USD. However, there are only few factories capable of providing such details to big brothers in the electronics sector.

 “In order to produce these precision parts, technology is required. We need to know what clients want and acquire machineries and latent technology to provide exactly what they ask for,” said Ha Ngoc Minh, General Director of TMT Vietnam Materials Industrial Engineering JSC

“Technology in many Vietnamese firms is outdated so labourers have no chances to learn using high-tech machineries,” he noted.

The most frustrating challenge facing enterprises’ owners in fine mechanics sector is labourers’ capacity. Let’s take an example of garment and textile industry. Automation only makes up for 20% of the production chain while human factor still accounts for the majority.

Chairman of Hung Yen Garment Corporation JSC Nguyen Xuan Duong said: “Regarding productivity, ours has climbed up to 3 million products from 1 million in the year before thanks to the improvement of labourers’ capacity.”

Cheap labour is no longer a forte as manual works now can gradually be handled by robots. In order to deal with the possible crisis brought by the 4th Industrial Revolution, many firms have proactively conduct training sessions in order to improve their human resources’ capacity.

According to experts, in order not to miss the opportunities offered by the Industrial Revolution 4.0, incentive policies should be promptly issued to encourage firms to invest in technological advances. Besides, labours’ welfare should also be of focus to boost productivity sustainably.

Human factor is crucial, said Chairman of Vietnam General Confederation of Labour Bui Van Cuong, adding that their well-being should be prioritized so that they can accompany with enterprises in a long run.

“Besides, firms also need to come up with measures to help labourers access to the trend of Industrial Revolution 4.0,” he added.

According to the General Statistics Office, productivity of neighbouring countries like Laos and Cambodia has outreached that of Vietnam; not to mention Vietnam’s productivity is only one tenth compared to Singapore’s. Successfully addressing issues regarding labour force may provide Vietnam a key to open the door to the world amid the fast-paced industrial revolution.

(Source: VNA)