More than a fifth (23%) of Vietnamese recruitment agencies that send workers overseas were rated "A1" or "top excellent" in an official ranking from the Vietnam Association of Manpower Supply (VAMAS), reports vietnamnews.vn.

More than 50% of the agencies were rated “A2” or "excellent", and nearly one fifth were rated “B1” or "good".

This is the second year the ranking has been carried out and the number of recruitment firms volunteering to participate more than doubled to 47, up from 20 last year, representing 27% of Vietnam’s recruiters. In its third year the number of agencies is expected to rise to 70. 

The evaluations were made using the VAMAS Code of Conduct for recruitment agencies. The Code was introduced in 2010 with the support of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), through the GMS Triangle project which aims to reduce the exploitation of migrant workers, and funded by the Australian Government.

The Code of Conduct is a voluntary self-regulation tool aimed at improving companies' compliance with Vietnamese legislation and international standards, thereby ensuring better business management and greater protection of migrant workers from exploitation.

The ranking includes four categories – top excellent and excellent (A1 and A2), good (B1 and B2), satisfactory (C1 and C2) and not satisfactory (D1 and D2).

Nguyen Luong Trao, President of VAMAS, said the evaluation was not only about data, assessment, and rating; but more about persuading and supporting companies to improve work ethics and comply with ILO standards.

Six out of 20 companies rated in the first year climbed up the rankings in the second year by showing improvements whereas five others took a step back due to violations of the code.

Experts said they hoped the rankings would help boost competitiveness among enterprises so that they worked harder to improve their services to workers.

Mr Trao said VAMAS also hoped to expand the code compliance to all recruitment agencies, while noting that this could be difficult because of the voluntary nature of the organisation. He said he expected more support from State agencies, especially the Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour, in efforts to expand the evaluation.

Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Nguyen Thanh Hoa, said the Ministry was committed to supporting efforts to expand the size of evaluation: "It's a good way to promote fair competition, prevent abusive practices in the recruitment processes, improve the quality of company services, and bring companies to a new height," he added.

Mr Hoa requested that VAMAS, through the knowledge it gains from the code assessment, to contribute to the revision of the Law for Vietnamese Workers Overseas in 2016. He said the law would be revised so that it better supported Vietnamese workers abroad.

The flow of Vietnamese workers overseas is expected to increase when the ASEAN Economic Community comes into being at the end of 2015.

Gyorgy Sziraczki, Director of ILO Vietnam, commented: "This requires better protection of migrant workers and improved services of recruitment agencies. So self-regulations tools are a win-win solution to both companies and workers.”

"Labour migration should no longer be seen as only a way to reduce poverty. Vietnam should look more into the quality of recruitment services and the protection of workers to reap the full benefits of international migration," he added.

Vietnam presently has more than 170 recruitment agencies. It sends about 80,000 workers abroad annually to more than 40 countries.