At the dissemination workshop for the report of World Bank on April 5th, Ousmane Dione, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam, discussed about the significant reduction in poverty in Vietnam. “Vietnam has achieved tremendous results in reducing poverty and improving the quality of life for millions” said Ousmane Dione.
According to the report, overall poverty in Vietnam declined by 10 percent, especially ethnic minorities decreased significantly, by 13 percentage points, largest in the past decade.
From 2014-2016, the poverty was reduced by 1.85 percentage, which is much higher than the government target for the National Target Programs (NTP).
Additionally, 70 percent of Vietnam’s population is economically secure, where 13 percent who are now part of the global middle class. People are moving upwards, resulting in a high rise in the consumer class. As a result, the service sector is expanding, creating more jobs, which leads to higher wage, reducing poverty and shared prosperity.
Although the effort to reduce poverty in Vietnam has been considerably effective, nine million people are still living under extreme poverty. In particular, there are 95 percent poor people living in the rural areas, 72 percent poor people are ethnic minorities.One of the thing these poor households have in common is the nature of their job, low quality and low wage.
Mr. Pham Van Hung
“Poverty reduction depends on education and wage,” said Pham Van Hung, Deputy Minister, Vice Chairman of Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs.
Better job is the key factor helping poverty reduction in Vietnam. According to Obert Pimhidzai, it is not just the quantity of jobs but the quality of jobs also matters. However, due to low education, poor people lack opportunities accessing to better job. The best job in Vietnam is a wage with contract job that is mainly accessible for those people with a degree or higher education.
The report suggested to invest more in infrastructure to maintain job creation and wage growth. Additionally, more education reforms should be implemented to increase equal opportunities and enhance workforce skills, especially for minority and rural areas.
