The Japanese market has seen remarkable growth with 54,504 workers (24,502 female workers). Other markets include Taiwan with 66,926 workers; South Korea with 5,178 workers; Saudi Arabia with 3,626 workers; Malaysia with 1,551 workers; Algeria with 760 workers... Along with Taiwan, Japan is also considered a potential labor export market. In particular, this is one of the markets with good working conditions and income, attracting the interest of many Vietnamese workers and registering to participate.
By the end of December 2017, the number of interns sent to Japan reached 54,504 people, equal to 136.47% compared to the same period in 2016 according to the report of the Conference summarizing the work of 2017, deploying tasks for 2018 and announcing the decision of the Minister of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) on January 18, 2018, bringing the total number of Vietnamese interns practicing in Japan to more than 100,000 people, surpassing China and becoming the country with the largest number of interns sent among 15 countries sending interns to Japan. In particular, the Japanese market has had remarkable growth with 54,504 workers (including
24,502 female workers), an increase of 36.47% compared to 2016, bringing the total number of Vietnamese trainees practicing in Japan to more than 100,000 people (the highest among 15 countries with trainees in Japan). Through assessment, in 2017, the activity of sending Vietnamese workers to work abroad under contracts has exceeded the planned target. Some major labor export markets continue to have high demand for recruiting Vietnamese workers such as the markets: Taiwan, Japan. Other markets still have stable demand, especially the Japanese market, the demand for receiving Vietnamese workers is increasing, diversifying in occupations. Some markets have a need to recruit some new occupational groups that Vietnam is capable of meeting well, such as nursing, caregiving and labor in some fields of agriculture, aquaculture, skilled labor, high technology, creating many job opportunities for workers when choosing to work abroad. Vietnam and Japan officially established diplomatic relations on September 21, 1973. Up to now, the two countries have built and continuously developed a very close and comprehensive friendship and cooperation relationship. The relationship between the two countries has reached a new peak, becoming a "strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia".
Japan is the third largest economy in the world. Japan's demand for foreign workers is huge, receiving more than 100,000 foreign trainees each year, including about 6,000 Vietnamese trainees. Japan is considered a very potential market for Vietnamese trainees. Currently, Vietnam has nearly 20,000 trainees working in Japan in 63 different occupational groups, the country with the second largest number of trainees out of 15 sending countries, after China, surpassing Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.
In general, Vietnamese workers are accepted by the market. Most of them are hard-working, proactive in learning, grasping the job, creative and diligent in work, and are loved by employers. The income of Vietnamese workers abroad is relatively stable, possibly 2-3 times higher than the income in the country with the same profession and level. After deducting living expenses, the income of workers is about 2-3 million VND/month in simple labor markets such as Malaysia, and 6-7 million VND/month in middle-income markets such as the UAE. In Korea and Japan, workers have higher incomes, up to 15-20 million VND/month. The jobs of Vietnamese workers are concentrated in a number of industries such as manufacturing, garment, electronics, domestic work, nursing, crew members, etc. It can be said that depending on each receiving country, the occupations of workers in each place are different.
Table 3.2: Situation of Vietnamese workers working abroad/outside territories and average monthly income in 2014
STT
Country/territory with labor Vietnam | Number of Vietnamese workers work | Average salary (USD/month) | Average Other Income (USD/month) | |
1 | Taiwan | 138926 | 650 | 200 |
2 | Korea | 54392 | 1000 | 250 |
3 | Japan | 26164 | 1400 | 200 |
4 | Malaysia | 20108 | 300 | 111 |
5 | Laos | 15532 | 300 | 113 |
6 | Cambodia | 12335 | 250 | 94 |
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Social Insurance Law for Vietnamese workers working abroad in Japan - 8 -
Protecting Vietnamese workers working abroad under contract - Current situation and solutions - 2 -
Prohibition of discrimination in Vietnamese labor law - Current situation and some recommendations - 2 -
Inspectorate of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs Theory, current situation and solutions - 16 -
Regulations of Vietnamese Law on Voluntary Social Insurance
Source: Department of Overseas Labor Management, Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.
Currently, the number of Vietnamese workers working abroad is increasing rapidly, so protecting their rights and basic interests needs to be focused on. Once again, it is affirmed that research on protecting Vietnamese workers working abroad is completely suitable for the current economic situation.
3.2. Current status of Social Insurance Law for Vietnamese workers working under contract in Japan.
Protecting workers is a fundamental principle throughout the Vietnamese labor law system with the philosophy that workers are the weakest in labor relations, in the labor market and the social labor force is an invaluable resource of the country. The situation of Vietnamese workers working abroad under contracts in Japan is increasing rapidly. In particular, workers working abroad are the subjects that need special attention because they are people who "have to live far from their families, far from their homeland, far from their guides, supporters and protectors; therefore, they are very vulnerable to exploitation, discrimination and violations of their rights". In addition, workers working abroad also encounter difficulties such as: they have to worry about the costs of language learning, vocational training, transportation to work in another country, signing work contracts, depositing money... In reality, many people have had to mortgage all their assets in the country or even borrow money to cover the costs of preparing to work abroad, many cases were cheated out of all their money but still could not go; There are also cases where due to lack of knowledge, they signed contracts that were disadvantageous to them...
The situation of Vietnamese workers working abroad under contracts nationwide sent 134,751 workers abroad in 2017, exceeding the annual plan by 28.3% and equal to 106.7% of the total number of workers exported in 2016. This is the fourth consecutive year that the number of Vietnamese workers working abroad has exceeded 100,000 workers/year. In particular, the Japanese market has seen remarkable growth with 54,504 workers (including 24,502 female workers), an increase of 36.47% compared to 2016, bringing the total number of Vietnamese trainees practicing in Japan to more than 100,000 people (the highest among 15 countries with trainees in Japan).
Workers working abroad enjoy the same rights as workers working domestically, in which the right to social security is also emphasized in the ILO's multidimensional framework on migrant workers. The social insurance system is the main content of the social insurance law, the social insurance law concretizes the policy into the regimes, with regulations on beneficiaries, conditions for enjoyment, duration of enjoyment and social insurance subsidy levels in each specific regime. In addition, the social insurance regime for Vietnamese workers working abroad has not yet been truly implemented.
Attention. The social insurance regime applicable to Vietnamese employees working abroad is divided into two cases. Employees working abroad with enterprises providing services to send employees to work abroad, career organizations licensed to send employees to work abroad, employees working abroad in the form of advanced training with enterprises sending employees to work in the form of advanced training, employees working abroad in the form of individual contracts are only entitled to retirement and death benefits. However, employees working abroad with enterprises that win contracts, receive contracts or organizations and individuals investing abroad and sending employees to work abroad are still entitled to full social insurance regimes such as sickness benefits, maternity benefits, occupational accident and disease benefits, retirement benefits and death benefits.
According to the report of the Social Insurance Department (Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs), in the first 9 months of 2016, only about 1,500 workers working abroad participated in social insurance out of a total of tens of thousands of workers going abroad.
Statistics from Vietnam Social Security show that after nearly a year of implementing the mandatory social insurance contribution regulations for employees working abroad under the Social Insurance Law 2014, there are currently a total of 4,878 overseas employees participating in social insurance. This number is too low compared to the number of more than 100,000 employees going abroad to work each year, and very low compared to the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese employees working abroad.
Most Vietnamese workers go to Japan in two forms: through service enterprises and career organizations licensed to send workers to work abroad and through the form of sending trainees and interns to improve their skills abroad. The above two forms are the most popular among the forms of sending Vietnamese workers to work abroad. However, there are still cases of workers going to work abroad with winning or receiving enterprises or organizations and individuals investing abroad that also send workers to work abroad, which is also increasing. One of the winning enterprises sending workers to work in Japan is FPT Software Joint Stock Company.
Training "10,000 bridge engineers" is one of two strategic programs of FPT for the Japanese market, which has been officially announced by FPT to be deployed from the center.
week of November 2014. Accordingly, from 2015 to 2018, FPT aims to train
10,000 bridge engineers for the Japanese market aims to help FPT in particular and Vietnamese IT companies in general be capable of receiving IT outsourcing work from Japan, while helping Japanese companies have more young IT engineers. Of the 10,000 bridge engineers trained for the Japanese market by FPT, 5,000 students will be trained in Japan and the rest will be trained in Vietnam. With the training program in Vietnam, along with internal training courses, FPT Software also cooperates with universities nationwide to increase resources for the program. For the training program of 5,000 bridge engineers in Japan, in 2015, FPT Software plans to send about 500 students to Japan for training under the study abroad program. For students trained in Japan, FPT Software commits to financial guarantee and creating the best conditions for employment in Japan with a minimum salary of 2,000 USD/month.
Meanwhile, if working in Korea, workers must deposit 450 USD to pay for repatriation insurance, risk insurance, and unemployment insurance. When working in Japan, Vietnamese workers are still entitled to participate in all types of insurance under Japanese law such as social insurance, health insurance, occupational safety insurance, etc. and have regular health check-ups according to Japanese government regulations.
It can be seen that Vietnamese workers often participate in long-term social insurance regimes such as retirement and death benefits under the Vietnam Social Security Fund, and also participate in short-term social insurance regimes in Japan because most Vietnamese workers go to Japan in two forms: through service enterprises and career organizations licensed to send workers to work abroad and through the form of sending trainees and interns to practice to improve their skills abroad. In addition to learning about retirement and death benefits in Vietnam, Japanese social insurance regimes include two parts: A) Social insurance (pension insurance, health insurance); B) Labor insurance (employment insurance, accident compensation insurance for workers) [53].
The Japanese pension system is divided into two main types: 1) The national pension insurance system applies to Japanese citizens aged 20 to under 60 and is implemented voluntarily for Japanese citizens in Japan aged 60 to under 65, and overseas aged 20 to under 65; 2) The pension system for employees is implemented for employees under 65 years old working at organizations, agencies of the Government, local authorities, companies, corporations, and private schools.
National Pension Insurance is similar to national insurance, it is a compulsory insurance that applies to all citizens, including foreigners with residence status in Japan. The purpose of this insurance is to provide benefits for the elderly, the disabled, and the bereaved families.
Welfare pension insurance is only applicable to enterprises that employ permanent employees, and its main purpose is to provide benefits for the elderly, the disabled, and the families of the deceased. The insurance premium is paid by the receiving enterprise and the employee, each paying half. One-time pension payment upon termination of pension insurance. Since the technical intern trainee's time in Vietnam is short-term, the National Pension Insurance and Welfare Pension Insurance will support one-time pension payment upon termination of insurance. Before returning home, the technical intern trainee can complete the procedures to receive a one-time pension payment upon termination of insurance.
Pension insurance applies to employees over 20 years old, working in companies with 5 or more employees must participate in pension insurance. Part-time workers with total working hours and working days over 3/4 compared to regular employees must also participate in pension insurance (in case seasonal workers have working hours below this ratio of 3/4, but if they have working conditions such as working over 20 hours/week, are likely to be recruited for over 1 year, have a salary over 88,000 yen/month, the employee is not a student, works regularly for a company with over 501 employees... then they must participate in this insurance). The amount to be paid is divided at a rate of 50% between the employee and the company. However, this contribution level is different due to different salary and bonus levels. The company pays this insurance premium for employees. If you do not participate in the pension insurance, you must participate in the national pension insurance. The contribution rate for this insurance does not depend on income, and is set at 16,260 yen per month (in 2016) [58]. There is a “Temporary Refund System” for pension insurance and national pension insurance. Under this system, foreigners who have lived and worked in Japan for more than 6 months and participated in the above insurances, within 02 years of leaving Japan, have the right to apply for a refund of their pension.
Medical insurance in Japan is divided into two types. The law clearly stipulates that people must participate in one of these two types of insurance. In Japan, medical expenses are quite expensive, but if you participate in insurance, the medical expenses will be
Most of the costs are covered by insurance. Foreigners who are registered as residents and have a residence status of more than 3 months can participate in national health insurance. National health insurance is a compulsory insurance that all citizens and foreigners living in Japan must pay for. This insurance will pay for medical treatment costs in case of illness or injury. The insurance will support up to 70% of the treatment costs if you are examined and treated at hospitals. The insured person only bears 30% of the medical expenses (people who have not yet gone to school bear 20%, people over 70 and under 74 years old bear 20%, (before April 1, 2015, people who have just turned 70 bear 10%, people with income above the prescribed level bear 30%). Additional expenses incurred during hospitalization may not be included in the insurance payment. The welfare health insurance also covers 70% of the treatment costs for employees. The insurance premium is paid by the enterprise and the employee, each party pays half.
Employment insurance is a compulsory insurance scheme managed by the Government related to employment in a comprehensive manner, providing benefits including: 1) Unemployment benefits: job search benefits; employment promotion benefits; vocational training and education benefits; continued employment benefits; 2) Three types of services: a) employment stabilization: preventing unemployment, improving working conditions, increasing employment opportunities; b) Human resource development: developing and improving the capacity of workers by building and managing training facilities; c) Social welfare for workers: consulting, job search support services, recruitment.
Workers' Accident Compensation Insurance (WACI) provides insurance for accidents due to injury, illness, disability, death of workers at work or on the way to work. By March 2001, there were about 2.7 million units implementing WACI and insured about 48,550 thousand workers. WACI benefits are divided into two parts: 1) Benefits for injuries at work and on the way to work, including: compensation for medical expenses, lump-sum allowance for temporary loss of working capacity, compensation for injuries and illnesses, disability compensation, survivor's allowance, funeral allowance, long-term care allowance; Disease prevention benefits include medical examination and medical guidance after examination; 2) Labor welfare services: rehabilitation services, support services for injured people, safety assurance services and nursing; Service to ensure working conditions.
Workers' Accident Insurance is a system that provides necessary insurance benefits such as medical expenses for workers who are injured, sick or die due to work or work. Workers' Accident Insurance is also applicable to foreigners, as long as they are working in Japan.
The insurance premium is paid by the employer and is collected together with the employment insurance premium in a unified form called “Labor Insurance Premium”. The contribution rate is classified by industry based on the frequency of work accidents and some other factors. Currently, the lowest rate is 0.55% (trade) and the highest is 13.3% (construction of hydroelectric power stations, pipelines).
Vietnamese workers working in Japan do not participate in short-term social insurance regimes in Vietnam such as maternity regime, occupational accident and disease regime, etc. This affects the construction of the social insurance fund in Vietnam. This is an inequality between domestic workers and workers working abroad. They are all workers so they must have equal rights to participate in social insurance and social security. In addition, maternity regimes require a minimum insurance payment condition to enjoy specific regimes, namely maternity regimes of 6 months within 12 months before giving birth. The above regulation has caused disadvantages for female workers. Working abroad has somewhat interrupted the time of social insurance participation of workers, directly affecting the receipt of regimes requiring a minimum time of participation in the social insurance fund. Although they are allowed to participate in short-term social insurance regimes in Japan, the social insurance regimes are only applied within the scope of Japan. So, in case the employee returns home due to illness or childbirth, he/she will not be entitled to this regime, even though he/she has participated in Japan. When returning to Vietnam, because he/she does not participate in short-term social insurance regimes in Vietnam, he/she will not be entitled to maternity benefits or sickness benefits like employees working in the country. Most Vietnamese employees working abroad will have to return home if they give birth or have a long-term illness. Or when the employee participates in the occupational accident and disease regime in Japan, of course, he/she will receive occupational accident and disease benefits for long-term illnesses that are very difficult to detect immediately. There are cases where the employee returns to Vietnam only to discover that he/she has an occupational accident and at that time, the employee will be at a disadvantage because he/she did not participate in social insurance in Vietnam and the occupational accident and disease regime he/she participated in in Japan will not be entitled to enjoy because the national law only applies within the national territory. The occupational accident and disease benefit is received periodically every month, so when the employee