[doo mae]
Five million craft-village employees in Vietnam could lose jobs

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

HANOI, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- About 5 million workers in Vietnamese craft villages could lose jobs due to falling export amid world economic downturn, local newspaper The Youth reported on Friday.

According to Luu Duy Dan, general secretary of the Vietnam Craft Village Association, Vietnamese craft villages have been troubled since last July, unable to sell their products abroad as the global economy slowed down.

In some northern provinces that producing wooden handicrafts, steel products and paper crafts, half of the workers are in danger of losing their jobs, said Dan, quoting a field survey conducted by his association.

The association has found that many firms in Bac Ninh Province, which has the largest number of craft villages in the country, have canceled long term contracts with 70 to 80 percent of their workers.

In response to the association's estimate, Vietnamese Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Cao Duc Phat said that his ministry has not done a comprehensive survey to affirm if 3 million, 4 million or 5 million craft-villages workers could lose jobs.

"But the situation is very serious and we have to take urgent measures," he said.

The Vietnamese government should help the villages find markets and capital, he said. He also urged craft villages to tap domestic market as international market has shrunk.