Little vocational training, much benefits - shortcomings in unemployment insurance policy

Vocational training support for workers is one of the unemployment insurance policies, helping workers improve their vocational skills and return to the labor market soon.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nguyet (Thanh Sen Ward, Ha Tinh Province), after quitting her job in Dong Nai and returning home, received unemployment benefits of 3.5 million VND/month and did not choose to learn a new profession. The reason she gave was that the training professions were not suitable for her personal development needs, and it was not certain that after finishing her studies she would find a job with a decent income.

“I think vocational training costs a lot now, and I don’t know if I can develop my career after finishing my studies. In difficult times like this, I think receiving a monthly allowance and doing freelance work would be more suitable for me,” Nguyet confided.

After a long time working for a garment company in Binh Duong , due to family circumstances, Dinh Thi Nguyet (Thanh Sen ward) and her husband returned to their hometown. Instead of continuing to learn a new profession, Nguyet decided to apply for unemployment benefits of 4.5 million VND/month and open a fruit shop to earn more income. "I know that learning a profession can help improve my qualifications and give me the opportunity to change careers, but if I participate, it takes time and I cannot go to work to earn more income. This is beyond the ability of an unemployed person like me. During the time I received unemployment benefits, I did freelance jobs to earn income to take care of my family," said Nguyet.

Mr. Ho Anh Tu - Head of Unemployment Insurance Department, Ha Tinh Employment Service Center shared that recently, the number of people in need of vocational training has increased, but still not much. In 2023 and the first 4 months of 2024 alone, there were more than 10,000 workers receiving unemployment benefits, but only 285 people registered for new vocational training. In 2025, the signal was more positive, Ha Tinh Employment Service Center paid more than 79 billion VND in unemployment benefits, and more than 1.3 billion VND for new vocational training support. However, this is still a small number compared to the number of unemployed workers today. The large difference between subsidy costs and training costs is an issue that needs to be reconsidered.

Output quality and policy support level are major barriers that prevent unemployed workers from registering for vocational training.

Vocational training is one of the important solutions for unemployed workers to return to the labor market soon. However, in reality, the number of unemployed people choosing vocational training is very low because they are facing immediate financial difficulties. Many workers just want to receive unemployment benefits, while doing flexible jobs such as driving motorbike taxis, delivering goods, selling goods... to earn more income. This is the reason to explain the paradox: there are many unemployed workers but businesses still lack skilled workers and spend money and time searching for resources.

Explaining further the reason why the number of workers participating in vocational training is still low, Mr. Nguyen Van Son, former member of the National Assembly's Committee for Social Affairs, former Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Ha Tinh, said: "The quality of output and the level of policy support are major barriers. For workers after vocational training, they only receive a primary certificate. With this certificate, if they get a new job, their income is not much different from that of ordinary workers. Meanwhile, workers who lose their jobs still have many difficulties in life, so they will choose to receive unemployment benefits and find a new job with immediate income.

On the other hand, the current job conversion for social insurance beneficiaries is still too simple, the maximum vocational training support is 1.5 million VND/month and the support period is not more than 6 months, which means the support is 9 million VND. With this support level, many jobs have higher actual costs, so many workers still hesitate to learn a new job.

Support policies need to change appropriately to motivate workers to participate.

Mr. Nguyen Van Son further emphasized: Along with promoting propaganda, consulting, and orientation for workers to choose to participate in new vocational training, in the long term, relevant ministries and branches need to conduct research to propose raising the level of vocational training support; extending the vocational training support period; and most importantly, building a list of occupations and training programs suitable to the actual recruitment needs of businesses, in order to create sustainable jobs for the group of post-unemployed workers.

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/hoc-nghe-it-huong-tro-cap-nhieu-bat-cap-trong-chinh-sach-bao-hiem-that-nghiep-post296845.html