Five million craft-village employees could lose jobs: conference

Five million craft-village employees could lose jobs: conference

Workers at the Huong Long Woodwork and Fine Arts Company in Bac Ninh Province’s Dong Ky wood handicraft village The Vietnam Craft Village Association has said five million workers in craft-villages around the country could lose their jobs because of falling exports due to the economic slowdown.

Speaking at a meeting in Hanoi Thursday, General Secretary Luu Duy Dan quoted a field survey performed by his association in some northern provinces, Quang Nam (central region) and Ben Tre, to say that half the workers are in danger of losing their jobs. The villages have been troubled since July last year, unable to sell their products abroad as the global economy slowed down. They have reduced production and laid off workers. Nine craft villages have gone bankrupt in the central region while 124 others are barely surviving, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The former comprise 2,166 household businesses, including 1,396 involved in processing and preserving agricultural, forestry and fishery products. “If only 10 percent of the country’s 2,790 craft villages – with 11 million workers – halt production, at least one million people will lose their jobs,” said Dan, who is also the association’s vice chairman. The association has found that many firms in some large craft villages in Bac Ninh Province have canceled long-term contracts with 70-80 percent of their workers. The situation of those producing wooden handicrafts, steel and paper is serious in this northern province which has among the largest number of craft villages in the country. In Phong Khe Village, which produces paper, half of the 500 firms have stopped or cut down production, while in Da Hoi Village the stockpile of steel has reached hundreds of thousands of tons. Most firms in Dong Ky wood handicraft village are unable to obtain export contracts. The US and China are traditionally its biggest markets. In the three villages, tens of thousands have lost their jobs or face the risk of unemployment, according to the province’s Industry and Trade Department. The difficult situation is expected to continue until the end of this year. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat said that no comprehensive survey has been done to affirm if three million, four million or five million craft-villages workers have lost jobs. “But the situation is very serious, and we have to take urgent measures,” he said. The government should help the villages with finding markets and capital, he added. He called on concerned agencies to step up trade promotion for the villages in the domestic market and banks to provide them with soft loans under the government interest subsidy program package. The villages should close more closely at the domestic market since the international market, which accounts for 70 percent of their usual sales, has shrunk, delegates said. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also called for simplifying customs procedures, reducing advertisement rates for the villages and upgrading their infrastructure. In the long term, Dan said, Vietnam should establish an agency and a fund to preserve and develop craft villages. Reported by Ngan Anh