In order to deal with the possible crisis brought by the fourth Industrial Revolution, Vietnamese firms proactively conduct training sessions in order to improve their human resources’ capacity.

Incentives are being given to encourage firms to invest in technological advances. Workers’ welfare is also of focus to boost productivity sustainably. Technology in many Vietnamese firms is outdated. So labourers have little chance to use high-tech machines.

Automation makes up only 20 per cent of the production chain. This is true especially of the garment and textile industry. Firms are coming up with measures to help labourers access the trend of Industrial Revolution 4.0.

The productivity of neighboring countries like Laos and Cambodia has exceeded that of Vietnam. In fact Vietnam’s productivity is only one tenth compared to Singapore’s.

Successfully addressing issues regarding the labor force may provide Vietnam a key to open the door to the world amid the fast-paced industrial revolution.

Vietnam has a target of 35 billion dollars in total textile and garment export value for this year. Enterprises have been asked to fully exploit the working capacity of their workers as well as restructure their management practices to improve labor productivity.

Besides maintaining and developing export markets, enterprises are focusing on developing new markets, including linkages with the distribution system in the local market.