According to a report by the Department of Overseas Labor Management (Ministry of Home Affairs), in the first 6 months of 2026, the total number of Vietnamese workers going to work abroad reached 66,311 workers, reaching 59.2% of the annual plan, a decrease of 8,380 workers (a decrease of more than 11%) compared to the same period in 2025.
As a unit directly implementing non-profit programs to send workers to work abroad, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tao - Deputy Director of the Overseas Labor Center (Ministry of Home Affairs) - said that thanks to the active participation of the press and media, workers are increasingly fully accessing information about work abroad programs. In particular, the press's continuous warnings about brokerage, touting, and fraud have contributed to raising awareness, helping workers proactively prevent risks.
As a result, in the first 6 months of the year, the Overseas Labor Center sent more than 3,034 workers to work abroad under non-profit programs such as: EPS Program; sending interns to skills internships in Japan; workers to work in the Federal Republic of Germany; Labor recruitment program to Taiwan (China).
Sharing about the reason for the decrease in the rate of Vietnamese workers going to work abroad, Mr. Nguyen Truong Giang - Deputy Director of the Department of Overseas Labor Management - said that in 2026, the Department was assigned the target of sending more than 112,000 workers to work abroad. In the first 6 months of the year, the whole country sent more than 66,000 workers, reaching over 59% of the plan, but still decreased compared to the same period in 2025.
There are many reasons leading to this, Mr. Giang said that the first reason is that traditional markets are reducing labor recruitment, which not only happens to Vietnamese workers but also many other countries in the region are facing.
On the other hand, currently due to political instability and wars in some countries, it is more difficult for businesses to send workers to work abroad.
The flow of people in politically unstable countries migrates to key labor markets, so businesses reduce labor recruitment. In addition, due to economic difficulties, businesses also reduce production and reduce recruitment" - Mr. Giang said.
Mr. Giang gave an example of the Japanese market, where the Yen depreciated by 150%, and income decreased, making the market's attractiveness worse, and workers are no longer interested in working in Japan.
Besides, domestically, human resources are also fiercely competitive, domestic labor income is strong, businesses recruit domestic workers with salaries of 20-30 million VND, so domestic workers are not very enthusiastic about going abroad to work.
