Thirst for high-quality human resources
That was the speech of Ms. Vi Thi Hong Minh - Deputy Director of the Office of Gender Employees (VCCI) at the workshop on Human Resource Development - Pre-requirential Conditions for Digital Economy and Green Growth organized by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor in coordination with the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry and Lao Dong Newspaper on the afternoon of August 11, in Hanoi.
According to Ms. Minh, the Ministry of Science and Technology assessed that the demand for human resources in information technology and digital industry in Vietnam is currently about 150,000 engineers/year but only meets 40-50%.
The semiconductor industry alone needs 5,000-10,000 engineers/year, but the capacity to meet the demand is less than 20%.
"It is forecasted that by 2030, the whole country will need about 2.5 million human resources to serve digital transformation, not to mention the human resource needs for renewable energy, circular economy and green production industries," Ms. Minh emphasized.
According to data from the Ministry of Planning and Investment (2024), about 50% of Vietnamese enterprises have initially approached digital transformation at different levels, but only about 16% have a systematic strategy.
VCCI's survey in 2023 also shows that 65% of businesses consider a lack of suitable human resources, especially human resources with digital and green thinking as the biggest barrier.
"A study by VCCI in coordination with the General Department of Vocational Education in 2023 warns that labor-intensive industries such as textiles, footwear, and electronics assembly - which employ millions of workers - are at risk of up to 70% of jobs being replaced by robots and artificial intelligence in the next 10 years," said Ms. Minh.
According to her, businesses, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), are lacking resources to implement "dual transformation" that is both digital and meets green standards. Many businesses do not know where to start, lacking data, solutions and specialized personnel.
What do businesses need from workers?
Ms. Minh believes that to meet the requirements of digital - green transformation, workers need to converge on four main groups of capacity:
First, digital capacity and digital thinking: Use management software and digital tools proficiently; know how to operate new technology machines, master how to collect and analyze data; have a mindset to improve processes through technology application.
She gave an example: "A textile and garment enterprise in Dong Nai, after applying the ERP order management system, increased productivity by 20%, but this result was only achieved when workers were trained in basic digital operations."
Second, green awareness and action: Be aware of environmental protection in your daily work: save electricity, water, classify waste, reduce material consumption... Ready to participate in green initiatives initiated by businesses.
"A bio-lastic manufacturing company in Binh Duong has reduced its internal plastic waste by 30% thanks to the initiative of a group of workers," she shared.
Third, soft skills and adaptive skills: Including teamwork skills, critical thinking, and effective communication. Ready to learn, innovate and adapt to constant change.
Fourth is proactiveness - co-creativity - sense of responsibility: According to Ms. Minh, not only "doing the right thing" but also knowing how to propose improvements, creating new values. At the same time, there is a spirit of accompanying businesses to overcome fluctuations.
Regarding some recommendations, Ms. Minh proposed: For the State: Complete the legal framework and policies to encourage digital - green human resource training. Invest heavily in vocational education, STEM and industries serving the green economy. Build a national database on skills supply and demand.
For businesses: Develop a long-term human resource strategy, combine internal training and cooperation with educational institutions. Participate right from the stage of designing training programs, especially in vocational education and on-site training. Invest in technology to support learning and skills assessment. Integrating business goals with ESG standards and human resource strategies.
For training institutions: Update teaching programs associated with practical business needs. Expand international cooperation, promote the model of combined training and internship at enterprises. Design flexible programs, increase practice time, and match market requirements.
Develop a team of high-quality lecturers, especially in technology, engineering and innovation. Applying digital technology in teaching, developing online learning platforms, digital university models. Training digital skills, creative thinking and the ability to adapt to new technology.
"Digital transformation - green in Vietnam requires a comprehensive human resource strategy, from new training, retraining to putting skills at the center; supporting businesses, especially SMEs; investing in digital - green technology and improving the quality of human resources to connect technology - strategy - people", Ms. Minh affirmed.
