Labour market
Youth unemployment on the rise
Viet Nam’s latest quarterly Labour Market Update shows one in five young people aged 20-24 with a university degree is jobless.
HANOI (ILO News) – Unemployment among young people aged 15-24 continued to rise, reaching 6.7 per cent (505,000) in the first quarter of 2014, according to the new Labour Market Update released on 1 July.
It marked a 12 per cent increase against the fourth quarter of 2013 and rose by 3 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Particularly about one in every five (21 per cent of) young people who are between 20 and 24 of age and with a university degree was jobless.
In a broader picture, more than 1 million people were unemployed in Viet Nam in the first quarter, accounting for 2.2 per cent of the labour force. It is up by 16 per cent against the last quarter of 2013 but slightly declined in comparison to the first quarter last year.
“However, unemployment in Viet Nam is still one of the lowest rates in the world,” said ILO Viet Nam Director Gyorgy Sziraczki. “The issue for the country is the quality of jobs and productivity.”
Despite a slight increase against the previous quarter, the share of waged workers remained low, at less than 35 per cent of the total workers in the first three months of the year.
“This shows a big proportion of the informal economy – one aspect of the quality of employment,” said Sziraczki.
According to Vice Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Doan Mau Diep, the continued improvement of the macro economy in 2014 will create good opportunities for the labour market to develop.
It is forecast that about 500,000 jobs will be generated this year, mostly in processing and manufacturing industries and construction.
The latest quarterly Labour Market Update is the second issue of its type. It was produced by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the General Statistical Office with technical and financial support from the ILO.
“The launching of the second Labour Market Update is an important achievement because it continues to produce regular and timely statistics on the country’s labour market, which are significant to policy-makers, researchers, companies and workers,” said the ILO Viet Nam Director.
However, he suggested that the next issues should have more analysis and look at productivity, an important set of data about the economy.
It marked a 12 per cent increase against the fourth quarter of 2013 and rose by 3 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Particularly about one in every five (21 per cent of) young people who are between 20 and 24 of age and with a university degree was jobless.
In a broader picture, more than 1 million people were unemployed in Viet Nam in the first quarter, accounting for 2.2 per cent of the labour force. It is up by 16 per cent against the last quarter of 2013 but slightly declined in comparison to the first quarter last year.
“However, unemployment in Viet Nam is still one of the lowest rates in the world,” said ILO Viet Nam Director Gyorgy Sziraczki. “The issue for the country is the quality of jobs and productivity.”
Despite a slight increase against the previous quarter, the share of waged workers remained low, at less than 35 per cent of the total workers in the first three months of the year.
“This shows a big proportion of the informal economy – one aspect of the quality of employment,” said Sziraczki.
According to Vice Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Doan Mau Diep, the continued improvement of the macro economy in 2014 will create good opportunities for the labour market to develop.
It is forecast that about 500,000 jobs will be generated this year, mostly in processing and manufacturing industries and construction.
The latest quarterly Labour Market Update is the second issue of its type. It was produced by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the General Statistical Office with technical and financial support from the ILO.
“The launching of the second Labour Market Update is an important achievement because it continues to produce regular and timely statistics on the country’s labour market, which are significant to policy-makers, researchers, companies and workers,” said the ILO Viet Nam Director.
However, he suggested that the next issues should have more analysis and look at productivity, an important set of data about the economy.