Vietnam sent 78,800 local people to work abroad in 2006, up from 70,600 in 2005, according to official sources on Friday.

The country's big labor markets include Malaysia, South Korea, China's Taiwan and Japan, said the Overseas Labor Management Department under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Vietnam is expected to send 10,000-20,000 employees to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates this year.

The country is expanding its labor export market to the United States, Italy, Australia and the Middle East, while further tapping traditional ones, in a move to realize its target of annually sending 100,000 people to work abroad in the 2006-2010 period.

As of early last year, over 400,000 Vietnamese people were working in more than 40 countries and regions, generating combined annual income of around 1.6 billion U.S. dollars, the department said.