Employment is the basic need of workers and job creation and improvement of employment are central to the political agenda of the Vietnamese Government and social partners. Employment concern focuses not only on the quantity of jobs but also on the quality of jobs, welfare, security, and social justice. An important consideration motivating employment policy comes from Vietnam’s increasingly intensive integration into the regional and international economy, which creates greater demand for the labor market to be flexible and dynamic. In this context, key component of employment policy is the various policies and programs which facilitate and support the development of active labor market policies.

On the 11th of June 2012, Vietnam registered its instrument of ratification of the Convention no. 122 on employment policy at the International Labor Conference marking a significant step forward to commit itself in further reforming the country employment policies. With ILO technical advice, MOLISA has been actively collaborating with the workers’ organization, the employers’ organizations to prepare a draft Employment Strategy for 2011-2020, that also goes in parallel with a process of proposing a draft Law on Employment expected to be submitted to the National Assembly for review and adoption by 2013. T he ratification of the ILO Convention no. 122 on employment policy comes at the right time and will provide the good foundations for building a comprehensive framework for Vietnam’s employment policy and putting it at the heart of the social and economic development plan for the coming years.

The Convention also helps further advance the tripartite cooperation between the Government and social partners aiming at better promotion of decent and productive employment for all.