WB: Vietnam needs to make workforce more productive

HANOI, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- While the size of Vietnam's workforce is still expanding, its youth population is shrinking, which means Vietnam cannot continue to rely on the size of its workforce forcontinued success, and focus needs to be shifted to making its workforce more productive, the World Bank (WB) said on Friday. The assessment was released at the launching of the WB's Vietnam Development Report 2014 titled "Skilling up Vietnam: Preparing the workforce for a modern market economy" in Vietnam's capital Hanoi. Literacy and numeracy among Vietnam's adult workforce is widespread. A more skilled workforce will be key to Vietnam's successful economic transition, said Victoria Kwakwa, World Bank country director for Vietnam. According to Christian Bodewig, the report's lead author, with the majority of Vietnam's adult workforce being able to read and write, the challenge now is to turn graduates from good readers into critical thinkers and problem-solvers who are well equipped to acquire technical skills through university education, vocational training and their entire working lives. The WB's report shows that Vietnam's education system has a strong track record in producing foundational reading literacy and numeracy skills, but faces greater challenges in producing the advanced skills that will be increasingly demanded in the coming years. This report addresses relevant issues such as the importance of a skilled workforce, with emphasis on cognitive, behavioral and technical skills, implementing a holistic skills strategy for the country through education and the importance of acquiring new skills in accordance with modern jobs.