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VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES _ Major: Political Economics Code: 9.31.01.02 TRAN THI HUYEN THANH SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS IN ECONOMICS Hanoi - 2020 The thesis has been completed at: GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Supervisors: Assoc Prof Dr Luu Ngoc Trinh Assoc Prof Dr Tran Thi Lan Huong Reviewer 1: Reviewer 2: Reviewer 3: The thesis shall be defenced before a Thesis Assessment Committee of the Graduate Academy of Social Sciences, at the Academy At ……., dated … The thesis shall be accessible at: - Library of the Graduate Academy of Social Sciences - Vietnam National Library INTRODUCTION The Necessity of the Thesis: Since its establishment (1991) up to now, export processing zones (EPZs) and industrial zones (IZs) in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) have been actively contributing to the socio-economic development of Ho Chi Minh City That result is thanks to the great contribution of human resources (HR) According to the Management Board of EPZs and IZs in HCMC (Hepza), as by 2019, 17 EPZs and IZs being in operation have attracted 1,603 investment projects with the total capital of US$10.67 billion, providing jobs for 291,618 workers However, HR in IZs in HCMC still have many limitations, especially in terms of quality The untrained rate accounts for the majority of the labor force working in this sector (76.6%) and the technology level of enterprises in IZs is still low, making the city's IZs lack a lot of qualified and professional workers, workers with high working skills, especially in high-tech industries such as information technology, design, electronics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, etc Consequently, the fact of not meeting the demand for high-qualified HR has inhibited the increase in labor productivity and prevented the rapid and sustainable development of IZs in HCMC Currently, HCMC is implementing economic restructure, including industrial structure, towards modernization, saving fuel and materials, not polluting the environment - requiring professional and qualified labor force To build HCMC to be a smart city in the era of Industrial Revolution 4.0, extensive international integration and sustainable development, improving HR quality is an urgent requirement today and that has become the top concern of HCMC, especially in IZs Therefore, I chose the theme "Improving the Quality of Human Resources in Industrial Zones in Ho Chi Minh city to 2030" as the theme for my Doctoral Thesis in Economics Research Objectives and Major Tasks 2.1 Objectives: To propose solutions and recommendations to improve the quality of human resources in industrial zones in HCMC to 2030 2.2 Major tasks: (i) To highlight a number of theoretical issues and experiences of some countries on improving HR quality in IZs; (ii) To analyze the status of HR and HR quality in IZs in HCMC; (iii) To propose solutions and recommendations to improve HR quality in IZs in HCMC to 2030 Research Subject and Scope: 3.1 Research subject: To study theoretical, practical issues and to propose solutions for improving the quality of human resources in industrial zones of a province/city of a country 3.2 Research scope: Time line: The period from 1991 to 2018-2019 and vision to 2030 Space limitation: EPZs and IZs (collectively referred to as IZs) in HCMC; Contents: The thesis only focuses on the in-depth study of the quality and the improvement of the quality of the labor division directly engaged in production as a leading part accounting for 95% of the workforce in IZs of HCMC, where exists many urgent issues about quality and structure that significantly affect the process of construction and sustainable development of IZs and the city needs to soon find ways to solve Nevertheless, while carrying out the research, other parts of the human resources (such as management force in enterprises and industrial zone management boards) were also mentioned reasonably as factors affecting HR quality in general and the labor division directly engaged in production in enterprises in HCMC industrial zones in particular The key research subject of the thesis is the Central Government and HCMC government (in the macro perspective) and referring at a certain degree to enterprises in HCMC IZs in relation to the construction of industrial zones and improvement of HR quality in those IZs Methodology and Research Method of the Thesis On the basis of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, the thesis has used the following scientific research methods: - Descriptive statistical method: The thesis uses (secondary) statistics from official sources of both the central and HCMC and HCMC Management Board of EPZs and IZs (Hepza); The data has been synthesized to clarify the current situation of HR quality in IZs in HCMC - Analysis, comparison and synthesis methods: To refer to the research works (books, journal articles, research projects, dissertations) related to HR, HR quality in IZs in HCMC and some other localities The documents were used, analyzed, compared and synthesized to work out the strengths and weaknesses of HR and HR quality in IZs in HCMC and their major causes - Survey by questionnaire: The author conducted a survey from January 2018 to June 2018 at 400 enterprises of 12/17 IZs in HCMC with three groups being surveyed by questionnaires: policy makers, enterprises and workers, with a total of 1,070 questionnaires issued and 959 collected back, making 89.6%, the valid questionnaires were 942/959, reaching 88.0% The data were entered and processed by SPSS software New Academic Contributions by the Thesis (i) Systematize domestic and international theoretical issues on HR quality and improve HR quality in industrial parks; (ii) Study influencing factors (from the State and macro environment; factors belonging to enterprises; factors from employees), propose a system of fundamental criteria to assess the quality of human resources in IZs; (iii) Systematize the researches on the content of HR quality and ways to improve it, also point out research gaps; (iv) Sum up experiences from China, Taiwan (China), and Thailand in improving the quality of human resources of enterprises in industrial zones and export processing zones to draw lessons for HCMC, and to take as a practical basis for the recommendations in the thesis Theoretical and Practical Meaning of the Thesis: (i) Review overall human resources in industrial zones in HCMC; Analyze the factual situation of HR quality in a multidimensional way in term of physical strength, knowledge strength, mental strength and team coordination in IZs in HCMC; (ii) Analyze the main problems and causes of low quality of labor force in enterprises of IZs in HCMC; (iii) Identify and analyze the contexts, objectives, viewpoints, directions and propose groups of solutions and a number of suitable and feasible recommendations to improve HR quality for IZs in HCMC in the future; (iv) The scientific interpretations and conclusions of the thesis could be a practical reference for the government, the authorities of HCMC, including enterprises in IZs and Hepza in planning and improving the HR quality in IZs Vietnam in general and HCMC in particular to 2030; At the same time, the thesis can also be used as a useful reference for State agencies, researchers, lecturers and students of economic universities Structure of the Thesis: In addition to the Introduction, Conclusions, List of Abbreviations, List of Tables, Diagrams, Charts, List of References, and Appendices, the thesis consists of chapters and 17 subsections Chapter 1: OVERVIEW OF OTHER RESEARCHES RELATED TO THE THESIS’ THEME 1.1 Main researches related to Industrial Zones and Export Processing Zones Regarding IZs, EPZs, both in the world and in Vietnam, there have been a significant number of researches with diversified perspectives, but basically agreed on the following main features: (i) Being an inseperatable part of a country, usually appropriate geographically distinct zones, with a border that restricts the remaining territories of the host country and is allowed by the government to be built and developed; (ii) A place for convergence and mutual adaptation of interests and a number of defined goals between investors and host countries That is a place where the business environment is particularly suitable, enjoying free regimes and economic preferential policies compared to the rest of the inland, and often in a favorable position for the development of production and business; (iii) A place having the top priority of outward policy, mainly attracting foreign investment capital to develop various types of export business; Being a miniature free area of open socio-economic policy of the host country 1.2 Researches related to HR quality 1.2.1 Domestic researches on HR quality 1.2.1.1 Contents on HR quality The common viewpoints of authors is that HR quality is the quality of powers within each individual person, including physical strength, knowledge and mental power, and to be used by them in the working process However, in addition to the HR quality of each individual, there is also theỉr attachment to each collective, and HR quality is also reflected by the structure, standard of labor division and labor cooperation among individuals within that collective 1.2.1.2 What is HR quality? The quality of human resources (HR quality) means the capacity to perform tasks and the degree of meeting job requirements Job performance is a combination of factors of work ability, used to execute and complete the job HR quality also implies collectivism (the ability to coordinate in the team) and the demands for HR quality from employers using the labor 1.2.1.3 Regarding HR quality in IZs, up to now, there are two main contents mostly discussed by authors: Firstly, to highlight the main factors affecting HR quality in IZs in Vietnam; Secondly, to recommend solutions to improve HR quality in IZs in Vietnam 1.2.2 International researches 1.2.2.1 Contents and indicators for assessing HR quality: The researches emphasize physical strength, intelligence, skills, working manners and attitudes to be the basic indicators for measuring HR quality 1.2.2.2 Regarding improvement of HR quality: The authors said that improving HR quality is the gathering and promoting the working capacity of employees to make countries, industries, localities and organizations achieve the strategic goals The most decisive contents of improving HR quality are activities of training and developing human resources; activities of maintaining and motivating human resources; and activities of attracting, recruiting, selecting and arranging human resources 1.2.2.3 Regarding human capital: The researches stated that the main components of human capital (or HR quality) are knowledge, skills, creativity, quality and practical experience, that is the result of investing in education, training, medical services and health care, etc Human capital is not what will be available but what is accumulated within the employees and can be sold Human capital is used to measure the standard and creativity of the labor force Labor is the factor that can be exploited and used immediately, while human capital should be not only exploited and used, but also frequently accumulated, conserved and developed Therefore, while they both contribute to growth, but are two different quantities 1.3 Overall review of domestic and international researches on the thesis’ theme 1.3.1 Research gap: A number of main gaps can be drawn as follows: (i) The researches all state that, among the three groups of factors of HR quality, two groups of physical strength and knowledge have direct assessment criteria, but the criteria for evaluating the group of mental power are still incomprehensive, incomplete, and low-generalized; (ii) When evaluating HR quality, the authors pay little attention or have not paid adequate attention to the collectivity of the human resources but often focus on individual employee's quality Therefore, according to the thesis writer, in order to have a comprehensive assessment of HR quality, it is necessary to add indicators reflecting the collectivity of the human resources; (iii) The studies on HR quality often pay little attention to the needs of employers, but favor the viewpoints of the HR supply, therefore, in order to have comprehensive and appropriate solutions to improve quality of human resources, it needs to start from the perspectives of the employers (ie the aspect of HR demand); (iv) Improving HR quality also requires to create qualified human resources that are responsive and willing to take part when there are changes in the labor market as well as changes in the organization's work in the future; (v) There has not been any comprehensive, complete and intensive studies of systematization on HR quality and improvement of HR quality in IZs in HCMC, except for a few studies that have discussed a number of aspects related to human resources and HR development in IZs in HCMC 1.3.2 The research direction of the thesis - Research approach: Studying HR quality in IZs in HCMC with two components that is the quality of each individual employee and the quality of the collective of individual employees as a working team for an identified set of common goals - Method of assessing HR quality: Using groups of indicators: (i) Group of indicators reflecting quality of each employee; and (ii) Group of indicators reflecting the collectivism of the human resources - Analytical framework: Description, analysis (i) highlight the substance and structure of HR quality in IZs; (ii) clarify the system of indicators to assess HR quality in IZs on both aspects: components of the quality of individual employees and components of the quality the worker collective; (iii) factors affecting HR quality in IZs; (iv) assess the factual HR quality in IZs in HCMC by different methods and criteria; and (v) basing on that, propose solutions and recommendations to improve HR quality for IZs in HCMC to 2030 Image 1.1 Analysis Framework Quality of collective HR QualityofindividualHR:physical strength,knowledge,mental power Affecting factors: State, enterprises, workers In’l experiences: Taiwan (China), Thailand International and Domestic context Criteria to assess physical, knowledge, mental strengths and coordination among individuals HR quality Assess the current situation of HR quality in IZs in HCMC Study HR quality in IZs in HCMC till 2030 Objectives, Viewpoints, Orientations Recommendations to State, Ministries, HCMC Solutions (4 groups) Source: Authors self – synthesizing and designing 1.4 Research questions and hypotheses 1.4.1 Reasearch questions: The thesis needs to answer the following key research questions: (1) What are the key characteristics of HCMC IZs and what are the requirements for HR quality and HR quality improvement? (2) What are the key characteristics of HR quality of HCMC IZs, by what criteria are they measured by and what actual factors are they affected by? (3) Current situation of HR quality in HCMC IZs: What are strengths, weaknesses (or limitations) and main causes? (4) How can we improve the HR quality in industrial zones in HCMC while the economic, political, social, science and technology conditions (both domestic and international) are having strong fluctuations in the coming time? 1.4.2 Research hypotheses (1) Being the largest economic, political, social and cultural center in the country, HCMC always has a high growth rate, the ability to attract FDI and S&T very strong, is the leading engine of innovation of the whole country, to facilitate the strong development of industrial zones requires better and better human resources; (2) The fundamental characteristics of human resources in HCMC IZs are large scale, mainly young workers with good health, but limited skills, lack of skilled labor, their skill levels are low and lack of professionalism, not meeting the development requirements of HCMC industrial zones and businesses (3) HCMC IZs shall not be able to improve their competitiveness, or meet the requirements of the new S&T Revolution, of the era of globalization, comprehensive and in-depth international integration, and of economic restructuring of HCMC in the direction of modernity and sustainability, if the State, HCMC, enterprises in industrial zones and workers not have crutial measures to develop and improve the quality of human resources of HCMC in general and of HCMC IZs in particular Chapter 2: THEORETICAL FOUNDATION AND EXPERIENCES OF A NUMBER OF COUNTRIES ON IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF HUMAN RESOURCES IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES 2.1 HR Quality in Industrial Zones 2.1.1 Concept of HR: Human resources are derived from human power, while that is the total of strengths within an individual forming his or her working capacity, being used by them in the working process; human resources refers to a group of people, each of whom has a different role, but links together to achieve a common goal At macro level, the concept of human resources is considered in both broad and narrow aspects At micro level, the concept of human resources of an organization includes the following main contents: (1) Human resources of an organization are the resources of people working in that organization, including: (a) Resources of each individual such as physical strength, knowledge and mental power; (b) The coordination among individuals in the operation of the organization indicating the connection between individuals in the work and production (2) Among resources, human resources is always the most important and decisive factor of an organization because it determines the ability to perform the work, as well as the efficiency of using other resources in achieving the goals set out labor-intensive industries and technologies; (ii) Perhaps the enterprises have not got sufficiently attractive measures and incentives to keep their employees to stay long and readily and voluntarily learn to improve their technical and professional qualifications and skills; (iii) Although some enterprises have invested in modern technologies and equipment, the operation of those technologies and equipment is very simple, requiring only unskilled and simple labor instead of workers with high education level or high professional and technical qualifications and skills (iv) The public education and training system of Vietnam in general and HCMC in particular has not had significant improvement, it is still heavy in theory and little in practice Therefore, such professional and technical qualification has not been appreciated by businesses The number of responding enterprises, which stated that technical and professional qualification of employees in industrial zones in HCMC meeting more than 95% of the enterprises’ demands only accounts for 9.4%, while up to 36.0% of enterprises responded that the technical and professional qualification of employees only met less than 85% of their demands (3) Working skills It can be said that this is the worst criterion in the eyes of businesses, still far below the businesses’ requirements (4) Working experience The fact shows that like most of industrial zones nationwide, firstly, the seniority of working continuously in the current industrial zones, enterprises and at the current jobs of employees in HCMC IZs is generally low; Secondly, the percentage of "job-hopping" to find a better workplace and job is very high 3.2.3 Factual HR quality in mental term Regarding the mental power shown in the consciousness, attitude, manner and discipline of employees in HCMC IZs, up to 48.1% of enterprises thought that this quality of employees in HCMC IZs met up to over 90% of the businesses’ demands This figure is relatively positive, and in fact, there has been a significant improvement and won a fairly high rating of businesses, especially if we consider it in the context of a large percentage (up to 70%) of labor in HCMC IZs originating from agriculture and rural areas, still carrying the working style of farmers, not having the industrial working style However, there are still 51.9%, i.e more than half of the responding enterprises, which stated that consciousness, attitude, manner and discipline of employees only met less than 90% of the work 14 requirements This means that the improvement in consciousness, attitude, quality and working style of employees is not yet sustainable, and it is easy to break into negative phenomena when conditions permit 3.2.4 Factual HR quality to be assessed basing on the coordination to carry out the task The author's 2018 survey results on the status of coordination among working team are generally quite positive, with the majority (up to 72.6%) of the responsding employees in HCMC Izs, of whom, 46.5% (223/501 respondents) and 26.1% (113/501 respondents) respectively said that the cooperation among the group members was “Tight and Very tight" 3.3 Factual factors affecting HR quality in HCMC IZs 3.3.1 Factors from the State and macro environment 3.3.1.1 Legal, institutional and policy factors of the State and HCMC (1) Policies to attract investment to develop industrial zones: Up to now, attracting capital has often been underlooked, modern technology and equipments have received little attention, but it is often aimed to quickly fill up the industrial zones and create more jobs (2) Policies to develop industrial zones in HCMC: (i) HCMC is still inexperienced and unable to orient correctly right from the beginning; (ii) At the same time, the construction of EPZs and IZs takes place with the policy of attracting as much capital as possible to "fill up" the EPZs and IZs As a result, the technologies that are put into use in the IZs of HCMC are basically processing, assembling and using a lot of unskilled labor, consuming much fuel and causing environmental pollution The selection criteria are usually young, healthy, graduating from at least junior high school, disciplined, conscious, being able to long-term attach to businesses As a result, the majority of laborers in HCMC IZs are unskilled labor with low technical qualification; (3) Plans for development of HCMC IZs: + The first problem is that the quality of industrial zone plans and the implementation of the approved plans has not yet met the development requirements + The implementation of the city's approved IZ plans is still limited, not yet firmly exploiting the high efficiency of the city's potential, capabilities and central locationto attract high technology and origin technology investment 3.3.1.2 HCMC’s policy to develop HR in IZs There is also a mismatch between the industrial zone development plans and the economic restructuring strategy and the human resources training strategy of the city Also, the IZ development plans are not 15 attaching with the human resource development plans, and the training strategy does not follow the economic restructuring strategy of HCMC in general and of IZs in particular 3.3.1.3 Training quality in Vietnam and in HCMC There are still many inadequacies Specifically, there is an imbalance between professional knowledge being trainned with practical requirements at the enterprises As a result, up to 90% of workers being recruited to work in enterprises at HCMC IZs have to be re-trained by businesses in order to meet the work requirements 3.3.1.4 Factual development situation of the labor market in HCMC Objectively speaking, the labor market in HCMC in all types of professional and technical qualification and all types of occupations, has not yet met the recruitment requirements of HCMC’s enterprises 3.3.2 Factors from enterprises 3.3.2.1 Training at enterprises In fact, the training activities of enterprises in HCMC IZs, so far, still have many problems and shortcomings, both in terms of subjects and forms, as well as training duration 3.3.2.2 Enterprises’ policies for recruitment and work arrangement: (i) Recruitment of enterprises in HCMC Izs is not or little effective (ii) Work arrangement for recruited employees are not really reasonable 3.3.2.3 Remuneration and motivation policies of enterprises to their employees Regarding salary and income policies, although remuneration and income are basically consistent with the quality of employees, but in the context of annual increase in inflation, the income of employees is still (i) discouraging employees to stick with enterprises, and/or be dedicated to work; (ii) forced them to find ways to work overshift, overtime, and extra time to make up the income shortage, leaving workers with insufficient time and money to participate in recreational activities, health rehabilitation, or training and upgrading activities to improve their skills and improve HR quality; and (iii) willing to change jobs, if other organizations may pay higher salaries 3.3.2.4 Working conditions and environment: In fact, most projects in industrial zones in HCMC still only use old and outdated technologies, which are discharged from the restructuring process in the developed industrial 16 nations, that is mainly processing, assembling and labor-intensive technology, leading to the fact that the HR quality in HCMC IZs is generally not high, which makes the productivity of workers and business efficiency of enterprises also low In addition, workers in HCMC IZs are always under pressure to work overtime and with high intensity 3.3.2.5 Living, nutrition and health care conditions for workers Unfortunately, the conditions (health care, housing, schools, kindergartens, community activities, ) only meet a very small part of the needs of workers in industrial zones, that, therefore, has affected negatively the physical, mental and health life of laborers and their families 3.3.2 Factors from workers First of all, youth and physical strength are one of the fundamental advantages of the labor force in enterprises of HCMC IZs, but the education level, professional and technical qualification are not high At the same time, their training structure is significantly mismatched or incompatible with the industry structure and the assigned job The percentage of workers from outside the city is about 60-70%, although they are very diligent and hard-working, but their vision is limited, with heavy psychology of small farmers, their working style is not professional, not immediately adaptable to industrial style in industrial zones if not being retrained, their working experience in industrial zones is little, also their loyalty to businesses, attachment to work and cooperation spirit are low 3.4 Assessment on HR quality at IZs in HCMC 3.4.1 Strengths and achievements: (i) The city, the Management Board and enterprises at IZs as well as the training institutions are increasingly aware of the importance of quality and improvement of HR quality for the economic development of the city and enterprises in industrial zones as well as strengths and limitations of human resources in HCMC IZs (ii) Hepza has made great efforts and actively created to favorable environment (in political, cultural, social terms) for HR development, helping them feel secure to work, attach to enterprises, (iii) Human resources in enterprises at HCMC IZs are at the "golden age" with good health, physical strength and educational level, which is considered to be high compared to the common level of the whole country, and having the mind quickly responding to new things; (iv) The size of labor force, especially high-skilled workers, is constantly increasing over the years; (v) All State, the city and businesses all have guidelines, measures and efforts 17 to pay attention to improving the lives of employees both inside and outside the fence of the industrial zones; (vi) Activities of education and training, fostering and improving professional and technical skills, working skills training have been taken care by the city’s government, Hepza and enterprises; (vii) The city’s government, businesses and political organizations have also cooperated quite well in disseminating laws, training for working ethics, working style and discipline, encouraging the creativity and activeness of workers; (viii) HCMC is a major center of economy, politics and culture of the whole country, therefore, attracting laborers to work in the city, including in industrial zones, is still very significant That is one of the favorable conditions for enterprises in the IZs as they have the opportunity to recruit high quality and suitable human resources 3.4.2 Limitations and weaknesses to overcome: (i) The proportion of unskilled labor is still large, while the scale and percentage of workers having technical and professional training increase slowly, or even tends to decrease, therefore skilled workers still account for a small proportion of the total number of employees in HCMC IZs; (ii) Similar to other IZs, the labor structure in HCMC IZs is unreasonable and unsustainable, because female and migrant workers still predominate; (iii) Enterprises in HCMC IZs are always in the situation of insufficient supply, and the structure of training, career and capacity are also unreasonable; (iv) Many enterprises in HCMC IZs are facing with many difficulties in recruiting skilled workers, especially in some typical industries; (v) The working skills of human resources in HCMC IZs are just above average and still far below the requirements, especially soft skills; (vi) Currently, the HR quality has not yet met the requirements of the process of economic restructuring towards modern technology, less pollution The amount of labor meeting the needs of developing high-tech industries is insufficient and difficult to recruit 3.4.3 Main reasons for the limitations a Causes from the State and the macro environment: (i) Up to now, in fact, the strategies and policies for developing industrial zones of both the Central Government and HCMC have not really focused on attracting projects investing in building up industries with high levels of technology and technics, but basically still inclining to fill up the industrial zones and create jobs (ii) There is no close connection between the economic development strategies and the strategies for developing and improving the HR quality; (iii) The training quality of the national and HCMC education 18 system is still low, failing to meet the country's socio-economic development requirements and the enterprises’ recruitment demands; (iv) The labor market of HCMC has not met the needs of enterprises in industrial zones b Causes from enterprises: (i) Deficiencies of the vocational training system in industrial zones and enterprises; (ii) The connection between enterprises and education and training institutions, especially vocational training institutions, is often very loose; (iii) Enterprises mainly focus on recruiting unskilled and cheap labor, so the quality of input human resources is not high, even declines relatively; (iv) The regime of remuneration is low and inadequate, does not ensure reproduction of labor capacity, negatively affects the health and fitness of workers, does not create the incentive to encourage employees to work for a long term and dedicatedly with businesses; (v) Working environment and conditions are unsatisfactory, the technology and equipment used in enterprises are generally low, using intensive labor, causing long working time, large labor intensity, unscientific schedule, easy to cause occupational diseases, weaken the employees' physical strength, leading to the decline of HR quality of enterprises themselves; (vi) Living conditions (physically and mentally) have not been adequately paid attention, nutrition and health care services have not been implemented well, accommodation and social welfare facilities are inadequate or in uncertain conditions (c) Causes from workers (i) The vision of the employees themselves is quite limited, not fully and properly aware of the assigned work, of the role of learning and training to strengthen fitness, improve technical/professional qualifications, working skills and ethics, working style, that leads to measures and activities to improve the HR quality in HCMC IZs not as effective as expected; (ii) Employees are still passive, not proactive and active in preparing for their future (from choosing an industry, choosing a career to learn to choosing a job, a place to work) Chapter 4: VIEWPOINTS, ORIENTATIONS AND SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF HUMAN RESOURCES IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES IN HCMC TO 2030 4.1 Development context of HCMC IZs to 2030 4.1.1 World economic context (1) The world economy is expected to continue developing with the strong application of S&T achievements, with 19 the focus on Industry Revolution 4.0, in order to improve labor productivity and the quality of human life Artificial intelligence and industrial robots gradually replacing human labor, and not polluting the environment will be the mainstream The percentage of workers with technical and professional qualifications is increasing, although it depends on the type of industry At the same time, many jobs, first of all the manual, simple, heavy, and dangerous jobs (such as textiles, footwear, seafood processing, etc.) will be reduced and replaced by robots; (2) The method of working and managing is also different from before; (3) Globalization and international integration continue to take place strongly and extensively, a series of new generation of free trade agreements (FTAs) are introduced, including labor-related provisions such as wages, working conditions and workers' rights (including the right to form independent unions) Human resources, especially highquality human resources, will be able to freely move among countries, first of all between countries of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) That, on the one hand, creates a fierce competition to retain and attract human resources, on the other hand, forces countries, businesses and each individual employee to strive to find ways to improve the quality of human resources according to international and regional standards Otherwise, Vietnam's human resources could be out of work in their home country, and they might not take advantage of favorable job opportunities abroad or new jobs brought by new industries 4.1.2 Domestic context for socio-economic development In the next decade, Vietnam's economy will continue its growth trend at a high rate and will create many new jobs But notably, the shift to jobs requiring higherquality human resources of new industries and services using increasingly modern S&T achievements and equipment is a prominent trend Along with the economic development, people's lives have gradually improved, along with extensive exchanges and international integration, making the perception of democracy, rights and interests of workers also changed, the relationship and working environment in enterprises will also be different 4.1.3 Context for socio-economic development in HCMC 4.1.3.1 Economic development context in HCMC Striving to achieve the average economic growth in the period of 2021 - 2025 from 8.5% 9.0% / year, 1.5 times higher than the average growth rate of the whole country, bringing GDP per capita of HCMC people by PPP to be USD13,340 - 14,285 in 2025 To be able to achieve such development targets, the industrial development orientation of HCMC to 2025 and 20 vision to 2030 focuses on developing advantaged industries in the following priority order: (i) Mechanical engineering industry; (ii) Electronics - information technology, telecommunications; (iii) Chemical industry; and (iv) Food and beverage processing industry HCMC shall prioritize these industries and encourage investment in EPZs and IZs in the city’s area 4.1.3.2 Development context of Industrial Zones in HCMC By 2025 and even to 2030, HCMC will continue developing high-tech industrial zones, gradually converting multi-functional and multi-industry IZs into specialized IZs; focus production in the industrial zones that have been planned; developing supporting industries for mechanics, electronics informatics; restricting new labor-intensive investment projects, prioritizing expansion and new investments in high-qualified industries and technologies employing quality labor 4.1.3.3 HR demands of HCMC Along with the development of the city’s economy, the demands for human resources also have certain fluctuations According to forecasts from now to 2030, the average demand for manpower in HCMC is about 270,000 - 280,000 jobs each year (including over 130,000 new ones) In which, the demands for trained human resources account for 85%, the percentage of skilled workers at intermediate level accounts for 33%, elementary and technical workers account for 18%, workers with college degrees account for 15%, workers with university degree accounts for 17%, and post-graduate workers account for 2% Such demand for human resources of the city continue to be met by the influx of migrants of working age, with the education background mainly of upper secondary, lower secondary and primary 4.2 Objectives and viewpoints to improve the HR quality in HCMC IZs 4.2.1 Objectives (1) General objectives: Addressing the problems of HR and improving the HR quality in the current industrial zones in HCMC to contribute to improving the competitiveness of enterprises in the industrial zones, promoting the economic restructuring of the city in the direction of developing advanced technologies and services, gradually reducing labor-intensive technologies and industries causing environmental pollution, raising the efficiency of using investment capital (2) Specific objectives: Providing specific solutions and recommendations to help the State, including the HCMC authorities, as well as enterprises in HCMC IZs 21 and IZ workers improve the HR quality (in terms of physical strength, knowledge and mental power) with the appropriate structure and number to meet the development needs of HCMC IZs in the context of international integration and industrialization in the direction of modern and sustainable development 4.2.2 Viewpoints to improve HR quality in HCMC IZs The improvement of HR quality for industrial zones in HCMC in the coming time should be thoroughly grasped the following key points: (i) in the development plan of human resources, raising the quality of human resources should be one step ahead and the industrial zone development plan should be implemented synchronizedly with the plan for HR development; (ii) improving the quality of human resources in industrial zones should be compatible with the technology level used by the enterprises in industrial zones; (iii) it needs to have the cooperation and participation of three subjects: the State, enterprises and employees in improving the HR quality in HCMC IZs; (iv) education and training should be considered as the most important solution to improve the HR quality in general and in HCMC IZs in particular; (v) it needs to improve living conditions and working environment for employees in the industrial zones; and (vi) Strategies and policies for developing and improving the HR quality must carry the integration factors 4.3 Orientations to improve HR quality in HCMC IZs Directions for developing human resources for industrial zones in the integration context are proposed as follows: (i) The economic structure of HCMC from now to 2030 will be the development of supporting industries, high-tech and high-value-added industries such as electronics - informatics telecommunications, manufacturing mechanics, new materials, chemistry pharmacy, biology technology, food processing, and gradual reduction of the number and scale of activities of labor-intensive industries in a reasonable manner The city needs to focus on developing sufficient quantity and quality of labor for the above industries (ii) Training soft skills for employees is also an essential activity to improve the quality of human resources for industrial zones in HCMC (iii) Exploiting well and effectively the "golden population" period of the city to mobilize the highest labor supply for its socio-economic development, by incorporating closely and by plans in the development of on-site human resources and attracting highquality human resources from both domestic and abroad; (iv) Out-of-city 22 human resources shall remain the main supply source, therefore, HCMC needs to focus on training and social security policies for out-of-city employees to attract and stabilize this source of labor 4.4 Some groups of major solutions to improve HR quality for IZs in HCMC to 2030 4.4.1 Solutions in term of mechanism and policy 4.4.1.1 From the State: The State should complete the following basic policies: First, the State needs to perfect policies to attract investment in industrial zones; Secondly, the State should accelerate education and training reforms; Thirdly, the State should encourage R&D activities in enterprises 4.4.1.2 From HCMC, two main tasks need to be well implemented: Firstly, HCMC needs to perfect policies and plans for industrial zone development to attract quality investment capital so as to improve the HR quality Secondly, HCMC should complete the mechanisms and policies to develop human resources to provide suitable human resources for industrial zones 4.4.1.3 Mechanism, policy of enterprises in HCMC IZs In order to improve the quality of human resources, businesses need to renovate their HR policies in two main directions: Firstly, it is necessary to consider investing in HR development (instead of taking advantage of, exploiting the young and cheap factors) as the most important policy Secondly, it needs to have an appropriate HR management policy in order to motivate employees to voluntarily improve their technical and professional qualifications, skills and professional working styles, and to attach themselves fully to enterprises and be responsible for their jobs 4.4.2 Solutions for training to improve HR quality for HCMC IZs (1) Improve the state management institution for vocational training activities; (2) Reform and improve the quality of vocational training in HCMC; (3) Improve the quality of training activities in enterprises in HCMC IZs in the following directions: Firstly, it is necessary to correctly identify the enterprises’ training needs Secondly, in order to really improve the training quality and human resources quality, enterprises need to conduct diversification of training forms, with priority given to those such as mentoring, sending to training at prestigious formal training institutions, attending seminars and conferences outside enterprises Thirdly, reforming 23 the contents of training programs must not only suit with the current situation of enterprises but also take into account the enterprises’ development strategy in the future and the possible fluctuations of the labor market Fourthly, it needs to train a capable and enthusiastic team to conduct training activities in enterprises (4) Employees in industrial zones need to be proactive and active in order to train themselves to improve their professional qualifications and skills HCMC employees should be more aware of the decisive, large and long-term role of the HR quality in the working process, accordingly they need to be more proactive in preparing for future 4.4.3 Solutions to attract and use HRs by enterprises in IZs For enterprises (a) Diversify recruitment sources; (b) Motivate employees with appropriate material and spiritual incentives in the following directions: (i) create and implement a reasonable remuneration scheme ( salary, bonus, etc.); (ii) High-quality human resources with high working results should be valued by various appropriate incentives and treatment, as this is a core force, an example to encourage other workers to participate actively in implementing the enterprise's goals; (c) Improve working conditions of enterprises; (d) Ensure social security, improve cultural and spiritual life for employees For the HCMC government Basing the existing laws, policies and regimes of the State on attracting, using and treating enterprises and employees, HCMC and its relevant departments and branches should guide, urge, monitor, check, inspect and promptly rectify the implementation of such regimes and policies at enterprises For employees of IZs, on the one hand, they have to strictly follow the rules, regulations, working regimes and incentives of the State and enterprises for themselves, and on the other hand, they need to take the initiative or through their representatives (on-site political and social organizations, including grassroots trade unions) to monitor, supervise and fight in lawful, reasonable forms and in a constructive spirit to request the enterprises to strictly comply with the laws and policies of the State and labor contracts that they have signed with employees regarding recruitment, work arrangement, evaluation, remuneration, training and development, etc 4.4.4 Solution to perfect the labor market of HCMC (1) Develop and improve the quality of the labor supply; (2) Identify and develop key training institutions for key occupations; (3) The city needs to consolidate 24 its organizational structure and clearly define the functions and duties of the vocational training centers to serve as a legal basis to connect supply and demand really effectively in the city's labor market 4.5 Recommendations to improve HR quality for HCMC IZs 4.5.1 To the State (National Assembly, Central Government) (1) The National Assembly should soon upgrade the Decree on IZs and EPZs into a Law to create a solid legal corridor and create greater rights for IZs in managing IZs; (2) It is necessary to step up the education and training reform, in which attaching importance to vocational training, so that soon there will be a supply source of quality human resources that suits with the labor needs of the period of industrialization, modernization and international integration; (3) It needs to pay attention and directing the government relevant agencies and units to give priority to support, with special preferential policies, budget, for Hanoi and HCMC to well carry out the planning and implementing vocational education and training plans 4.5.2 To Ministries, lines It needs to have appropriate mechanisms and policies Specifically: (i) First of all, the Ministry of Planning and Investment should have specific and detailed plans for the development of industrial zones nationwide, as well as the plan for the development of human resources for industrial zones to 2030 regarding key industries, based on forecasts of investment trends, and/or industries to grow and disappear in the future; (ii) MOLISA needs to fundamentally and comprehensively renovate the vocational training system, decentralize and uphold the autonomy of training institutions and encourage the cooperation and proactive participation of enterprises in vocational training; (iii) The Ministry of Education and Training should proactively give priority to universities that focus on training of highly applicable and practical disciplines in order to provide sufficient qualified engineers and managers in line with the new science and technology trends and the industrial revolution 4.0 4.5.3 To HCMC On the basis of the investigation to grasp the factual situation and on the basis of the city's long-term socio-economic development, including the practical development planning of industrial zones, HCMC needs to soon have a master plan for the development of human resources in the whole city in general and for its industrial zones in particular, from that to determine the appropriate training needs of human resources It is necessary 25 to support the city’s education and training institutions, to mobilize all resources (public and private, domestic and abroad) to participate in the city's training activities, including training human resources for industrial zones There should be appropriate mechanisms and policies on recruiting, using and treating quality human resources working in industrial zones (such as salaries, social houses, schools, cultural and entertainment services, ) CONCLUSIONS Nearly 30 years since the first EPZ was established in Vietnam, besides the achievements, human resource development, especially in terms of quality, in HCMC Izs still remains many limitations as pointed out in Chapter These limitations have had negative impacts on the investment environment in industrial zones, and have not created conditions for the city's economic structure to shift strongly towards industrialization and modernization Realizing that improving the HR quality in HCMC IZs has a practical meaning not only for the city's industrial zones and their businesses themselves, but also contributing to the economic restructuring, promoting the industrialization and modernization of the city, as well as providing possible useful suggestions for other industrial zones across the country, the thesis therefore has focused on studying and solving the following fundamental contents: (i) On the basis of systematizing the basic theoretical issues about industrial zones, human resources, and human resource quality and improving human resource quality as internal concepts of human resources, the HR quality in general and of industrial zones in particular, along with identifying and analyzing the characteristics of industrial zones, has built a system of indicators for measuring quality of human resources in industrial zones as criteria for assessing the status of HR quality in HCMC Izs; (ii) At the same time, the thesis also studies and analyzes the experiences of improving the HR quality in industrial parks of the three economies of China, Taiwan (China) and Thailand, which have similarities (in terms of development goals and conditions) with Vietnam to find useful lessons for HCMC IZs in improving the HR quality; (iii) Presenting preliminary assessments on the development of human resources in HCMC IZs in relation to the development of HCMC Izs in recent time in terms of scale and structure of human resources; (iv) By employing many 26 different methods, especially the method of on-site survey by the questionnaire with subjects (workers, businesses and managers of HCMC IZs) combined with various sources of materials and rich, updated data, the thesis has deeply analyzed the status of HR quality in HCMC IZs, as well as practical factors that mainly affect the HR quality in HCMC IZs; (v) At the same time, the thesis also provides specific assessments by pointing out the strengths and limitations as well as causes of limitations on HR quality of HCMC IZs (vi) In order to promote strengths, overcome the limitations of HR quality in HCMC IZs, on the basis of domestic and international socioeconomic context and new S&T advances, plus lessons learned from a number of countries, the thesis has proposed four groups of solutions and some recommendations to the State, related Ministries and liness, and HCMC to contribute to improving the HR quality in HCMC IZs in future Frankly, the analysis, interpretation and scientific contributions of the thesis could be a useful and practical reference for HCMC government and departments in consulting, developing and adjusting policies and planning for developing industrial zones as well as human resources for the industrial zones in future, for HCMC IZs and their businesses in developing and training high quality and appropriate human resources, and for research institutes and universities in researching and teaching on this important topic At the same time, although in Vietnam there are many IZs in different localities, each IZ and each locality have their own characteristics and conditions, but among them and the IZs in HCMC also have certain similarities, such as on the development context, on education and training issues, on recruiting, using and developing their human resources Therefore, certainly the solutions to improve the human resource quality proposed by the thesis for HCMC IZs more or less open worthable suggestions for other industrial zones in Vietnam in general./ 27 LIST OF PUBLISHED ACADEMIC WORKS BY THE AUTHOR THAT LINKS WITH THE THESIS Phan Tan Hung, Tran Thi Huyen Thanh (2014), Study labor relations in non-state enterprises in HCMC, Grassroots Scientific Project (Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Law); Tran Thi Huyen Thanh (November 2015), Improve the quality of labor sources in Export Processing Zones - Industrial Zones in Ho Chi Minh City Journal of Political Science (No 7/2015), page 73; Tran Thi Huyen Thanh (2017) Attracting investment in industrial zones associated with improving labor quality in Ho Chi Minh city, Finance Journal (Part - November 2017) (668), p 78; Tran Thi Huyen Thanh, Te Tri Dung (2017), Attracting FDI capital for industrial development in Ho Chi Minh city, Finance Journal, (Part - October 2017) (667) p 79; Tran Thi Huyen Thanh (2017), Improving the labor quality associated with attracting investment in Ho Chi Minh city, Finance Journal (Part - December 2017) (671), p 117; Luu Ngoc Trinh, Tran Thi Huyen Thanh (2018), The quality of human resources in industrial zones in Ho Chi Minh city: Current situation and solutions, America Today Journal, No 04 (241), 2018 , p 53-64, ISSN 2354-0745; Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference "East Asia-Vietnam investment cooperation and the issue of human resource training, job creating for workers”, the Van Hien University held in Ho Chi Minh city on May 22, 2018, published by Ho Chi Minh city Economics Publisher in 2018, ISBN: 978-604-922-643-4 ... (1) Policies to attract investment to develop industrial zones: Up to now, attracting capital has often been underlooked, modern technology and equipments have received little attention, but it... Ho Chi Minh City Journal of Political Science (No 7/2015), page 73; Tran Thi Huyen Thanh (2017) Attracting investment in industrial zones associated with improving labor quality in Ho Chi Minh. .. Tran Thi Huyen Thanh, Te Tri Dung (2017), Attracting FDI capital for industrial development in Ho Chi Minh city, Finance Journal, (Part - October 2017) (667) p 79; Tran Thi Huyen Thanh (2017), Improving