Enhancing employment policies, economic stabilization and restructuring for an inclusive, effective and sustainable growth model for Viet Nam

Partners: Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs (ILLSA), MoLISA, Center for Analysis and Forecast (CAF) –Vietnam Academy of Social Science (VASS)Target beneficiaries: Direct beneficiaries will include managers, policy planners, economics experts, and researchers to improve the knowledge in socio-economic policy planning and management. The ultimate beneficiaries will be policy planners, legislative experts, labor market analysts, statisticians through an established dialogue channel on socio- economic development issues and labour market governance.

Project context:

In recent years, the Vietnamese economy experienced a prolonged period of macroeconomic instability. As a consequence, the Government of Vietnam introduced a macroeconomic stabilization package in February 2011 and subsequently embarked on long-term and large-scale structural reforms known as economic structuring as part of a shift from resource-based towards an efficiency-based growth model, in late 2011. The economic restructuring will focus on three key areas including: (i) investment restructuring with a focus on public investment, (ii) financial market restructuring with a focus on restructuring commercial banks and financial institutions system and; (iii) restructuring of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) with a focus on state owned groups and state corporations. These major changes in the policy and business environment are expected to have short-term adjustment costs, including employment and social impacts, although the long term benefits in terms of higher and more sustainable growth are commonly agreed.

To make a contribution to the on-going policy debates and discussions on the unfolding economic restructuring process, this project has the ultimate objective to ensure the linkage and coherence between macro-economic policies and promotion of sustainable and decent job creation for all Vietnamese women and men. Under the auspices of this project, a number of policy oriented studies/research, consultancy services, knowledge sharing initiatives are conducted to assist Vietnamese policy makers on reviewing, assessing and measuring the impacts of economic policies on the labour market and addressing their adverse impacts. Other component includes capacity building for managers and key technical staff of policy making agencies and research institutions in building and improving economic and employment policies. The project applies international standards in general and the provisions of the ILO Convention on Employment Policy (No. 122) which Viet Nam ratified in May 2012.

Project objectives

Long-term objective: To promote the reforms of socio-economic development mechanisms and growth model transformation towards sustainable and decent job creation for all Vietnamese men and women.

Short term objective: To ensure the linkage and coherence between macro-economic policies and the promotion of sustainable and decent job creation for all Vietnamese men and women.

Project outcomes

Outcome 1: Economic policies and reforms assessed to measure their impacts on Viet Nam’s labour market and policy options elaborated to minimize the adverse impacts, with particular attention to gender-sensitive policies

Outcome 2: Capacities of direct beneficiaries (policy makers and key technical staff of the MOLISA, MPI, MOF, VBS, VASS, NASAC, NAEC, VGCL, VCCI, VCA) strengthened to evaluate and forecast the impacts of economic reforms on the labour market and to integrate labour market targets into macroeconomic policies