Improving the quality of human resources - Urgent issue

In this context, as well as the requirements for national development in the new era - the digital era - the smart era, improving the quality of human resources, especially high-quality human resources, is of special concern to our Party and State...

Scientific research at the Center for Nano and Energy Laboratory, University of Science (Vietnam National University, Hanoi).

1. Vietnam is a country with a large population. At present, our country has about 101.4 million people, the 3rd most populous in Southeast Asia and the 15th most populous in the world .

In terms of age structure, Vietnam is still in the “golden population” period with an abundant young workforce. However, Vietnam’s population structure is entering the final stage of the “golden population” period, with the phenomenon of population aging occurring at a rapid pace. It is expected that by 2036, the proportion of elderly people will reach 20%, meaning that Vietnam will enter the aging population stage.

There are many problems that arise when the population ages rapidly. The most obvious is that an aging population will no longer be an advantage for the country's economic growth. Furthermore, an aging population will cause the labor force to decrease and the number of dependents to increase, leading to an increasing financial and health care burden for the working-age population.

Such analysis shows that the aging population is the first major challenge for planning sustainable development strategies to effectively utilize young human resources in the "golden population" period.

Not to mention, when considering the physical condition, overall health and average height of people of working age in our country, there is still a clear gap compared to many countries in the world. The numbers mentioned here clearly show that: The average height of men in Vietnam in the most recent survey in 2020 was 168.1cm, women was 156.2cm, lower than countries in the region such as Thailand, Korea and Japan. The life expectancy of Vietnamese people is currently 74.5 years, 5-10 years lower than Japan, Korea, Germany. The rate of stunting malnutrition in Vietnam is 19.6%, much higher than developed countries such as Japan or Singapore...

Along with the reality of an aging population, the quality of human resources of people of working age also needs attention. A notable figure is that although we are in the "golden population" period with a workforce aged 15 and over of about 53 million people, the number of workers who have been trained, have been granted degrees and certificates of technical expertise in the national education system has only reached about 28%.

The above facts show that although the quality of Vietnamese human resources has been improved in recent years, there is still a large gap compared to developed countries, especially in terms of creativity, labor productivity, practical skills and foreign language proficiency. Currently, Vietnam is among the 32 largest economies in the world, however, labor productivity only ranks 117/181 countries and territories listed and is only equivalent to 11.4% compared to Singapore, equal to 35.4% of Malaysia...

Thus, one of the biggest challenges in human resource quality today is how to increase labor productivity and develop industries and jobs with high technical expertise in the context of our country's deep international integration.

2. It can be seen that, entering the new era - the digital era - the smart era, our country must resolve the great challenges to gradually improve the quality of human resources. In particular, improving the quality of human resources is even more urgent when our country is implementing the growth target of 8% this year and increasing by double digits in the following years, so that by 2045, Vietnam will become a developed country with high income people.

The first issue of concern is that improving the quality of human resources must be placed in the context that our country is synchronously implementing the work of arranging and perfecting the organization of the state administrative apparatus to be streamlined, operate effectively and efficiently, reduce focal points, reduce intermediate levels and build e-government, digital government close to the people, serve the people better. This important work, both in the short and long term, our Party and State have set the requirement to select officials with sufficient talent and virtue to be able to undertake the work in the new context.

Second, improving the quality of human resources needs to be associated with the effective implementation of Resolution No. 57-NQ/TU dated December 22, 2024 of the Politburo on breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation. Because in the current period, the development of science, technology, innovation and digital transformation is an important driving force for our country to effectively implement the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In particular, we need to gradually form a high-quality workforce to meet the requirements in non-traditional and high-tech fields and professions such as: Semiconductor industry, artificial intelligence...

Third, it must be affirmed that labor resources are always valuable capital, resources, and forces that determine labor productivity, added value, development, competitiveness, and independence and autonomy of a country. Therefore, in the coming time, we must resolve major challenges such as the aging population period is approaching and the "golden population" advantage will gradually end; improve the physical health of the people, especially those of working age; improve professional qualifications and skills to increase labor productivity.

3. In many articles and speeches, when emphasizing the major policy to bring the country firmly into the new era, one of the requirements that General Secretary To Lam is very interested in is to improve the quality of human resources, especially high-quality human resources. The head of our Party emphasized: “Regarding labor, implementing mechanisms to develop high-quality human resources, improving lifelong learning skills, capacity and productivity of the Vietnamese workforce. And the highest level is to build a strategy to develop Vietnamese people for the “rising generation”, so that by 2045, young men and women in their eighteens and twenties will be on par with international friends in both intelligence and physical strength”.

The consistent viewpoint of our Party and State is to take people as the foundation for sustainable development. Therefore, human development becomes a central and strategic issue that determines the success of the country. Current reality shows that education, training, sports, culture and population policy are the top priorities in the national strategy to improve the quality of human resources, thereby creating a favorable environment and conditions for workers to develop healthily, comprehensively, and harmoniously in terms of morality - intelligence - physical strength - aesthetics. In particular, education and training are always the top national policies, the foundation for both popularizing general knowledge and focusing on educating creative thinking ability, working skills, and life skills to meet the requirements in the new context. In particular, all levels, sectors and localities are also interested in developing strategies and plans to improve population quality, first of all, having effective mechanisms and policies to maintain replacement fertility as well as caring for the health and physical condition of the community in a more comprehensive and quality manner...

From a citizen's perspective, in addition to the attention of the Party and the State, each person needs to continuously learn about expertise, profession, methods, work experience and the ability to coordinate in a collective to improve discipline, labor productivity and promote collective strength.

Improving the quality of human resources is one of the three strategic breakthroughs (institutions, infrastructure and human resources) to develop the country's socio-economy. In the current conditions, this issue has become more urgent than ever and the responsibility placed on each level, each sector and each locality is even higher. How can we gradually resolve the concerns of General Secretary To Lam when mentioning this issue: "We have talked a lot about preparing "nests" for "eagles", this is very correct, very much worth doing. But why do we rarely mention the plan to prepare "forests" and "fields" for "bee colonies" to collect flowers for honey? Why have we not set targets for creating new jobs for each stage, for each field?"

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/nang-cao-chat-luong-nguon-nhan-luc-van-de-cap-bach-700953.html