Vietnam sent a record number of workers to Japan in the first 11 months of this year, according to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

More than 74,000 Vietnamese workers left their home country for Japan, out of a total of more than 146,000 workers who went abroad between January and November, accounting for more than half of the workers sent aboard, leading all destinations for Vietnamese guest workers.

Vietnam leads 15 countries in the number of workers sent to Japan. Photo: VOV

In the first 11 months, Taiwan (China) was also a top destination receiving 54,769 Vietnamese workers, followed by South Korea with 7,830 workers, China (1,785), Hungary (1,463), Singapore (1,333), among others.

Japan is also one of the destinations having the best working conditions and income for Vietnamese workers, according to the Department of Overseas Labor.

According to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, there are now more than 500,000 Vietnamese workers in Japan under various programs such as skilled internships, specified labor, nurses, and medical workers sent to Japan under the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA), technicians and interpreters.

Speaking at the Vietnam-Japan Labor Cooperation Forum in Tokyo on December 16, Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung said that labor cooperation between Vietnam and Japan has developed rapidly and extensively in many areas, including labor export, vocational training, and social welfare.

In more than 19 years of running these non-profit programs under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, 8,718 Vietnamese workers have been in Japan for technical internships under the Employment Permit System (EPS) program and those under the International Manpower Development Organization of Japan (IM Japan), said Dang Huy Hong, Director of the Center of Overseas Labor under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said at a job fair for workers in November.

He said the program has provided good job opportunities and high incomes, improving the lives of workers and their families and contributing to the country's socio-economic development.