Vietnam sends more than 20,000 people to work overseas in first four months
Vietnam has sent more than 20,000 people to work abroad in the first four months of this year as the country works to expand its labor export markets, an official said Wednesday. Taiwan ranked No. 1 for receiving Vietnamese migrant workers, with 13,000 laborers sent there between January and April, said the official at the labor export department who identified herself only as Hoa.
Some 3,385 others were sent to work in Malaysia in the same period, she said. Vietnam sent only about 14,000 people to work overseas in the first four months of last year because several countries stopped accepting laborers when bird flu was raging in the communist country, the official said.
Vietnam hopes to send 70,000 people to work abroad this year, slightly higher than the 67,000 who went last year, she said. Overall, more than 300,000 Vietnamese are working in 45 countries and territories, she said, adding Malaysia was the top market with nearly 100,000 currently working there while Taiwan was second with some 80,000. Last year, Vietnamese guest workers sent home US$1.7 billion (€1.32 billion) in remittances, making it one of the country's most important foreign exchange earners.
The Associated Press - May 11, 2005
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