Just one-fourth of Vietnamese interns find jobs after returning from Japan

According to the report on development of industrial human resources in Vietnam released by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), as of June 2021, about 202,000 Vietnamese technical interns were studying in Japan, accounting for 63.8% of international trainees receiving vocational training in the country.

Most of them work in the fields of construction, agriculture, services and information technology.

The number of Vietnamese interns in Japan has increased rapidly in many fields since 2017, with the highest increase recorded in the construction industry, where the rise has been nine-fold.

However, compared to other countries in the region, the percentage of Vietnamese interns able to find a job soon after returning home is the lowest, at only 26.7%.

The comparable figure in China, Thailand and the Philippines is more than 50%.

In many cases, the returnees have used their Japanese language skills to sell goods, teach foreign languages and become labor export consultants.

The report calls this development a “waste of human resources” that fails to “meet the program’s original purpose of transferring skills.”

The JICA’s survey of 341 Japanese enterprises and more than 40 employers in Vietnam found that it was difficult for interns returning to Vietnam from Japan to get a job because of “unsuitable work experience.”

In fact, compared to local laborers in Vietnam, their only strong point is their Japanese language skills, because they do not have enough work experience, the survey found

Some companies said the interns had just graduated from high school or even secondary schools when applying for the internship program and could only do certain tasks that they were trained for in Japan. Therefore, when returning to Vietnam to work, they have a lot to learn to match their colleagues with greater experience.

In other cases, businesses said the interns had very limited work experience in Japan, because they worked with machinery that is not even available in Vietnam.

High salary expectation was another barrier preventing interns from getting a job soon after returning from Japan.

While in Japan, they were paid $1,000-1,500 per month, which is three-four times higher than the salary that a new employee can get at a factory in Vietnam.

Besides, 23% of surveyed employers said that they lack the necessary channels to recruit trainees returning from Japan.

Japan instituted the technical training internship program in 1993 to help transfer skills, technologies and knowledge to developing regions.