Vietnam’s labour market shows signs of recovery

Vietnam’s labour market is making a gradual recovery along with the overall economic recovery, according to a report on the employment situation in the fourth quarter of 2021 by the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The press conference on the job market in the fourth quarter of 2021
The press conference on the job market in the fourth quarter of 2021

In the final three months of 2021, the labour force was 50.7 million people from 15 years old and above, up 1.7 million from the previous quarter, while the rate of labour participation was 67.7%, a rise of 2.1 percentage points.

The number of workers with informal jobs rose by 1.3 million to 19.4 million in the fourth quarter while people facing job shortages fell by 381,000 against the previous three months.

According to the GSO report, the average income in the October-December period rose by 139,000 VND to 5.3 million VND (233 USD) but dropped by 624,000 VND compared to the same period last year.

The number of people in the working age without jobs fell by 113,000 to 1.6 million.

However, the labour picture in 2021 was still much more difficult than in 2020 with rises in both unemployment and job shortage rates, requiring the government to make greater efforts to create jobs and social security in 2022 and subsequent years.