The total labor force aged 15 and above estimated at 52.9 million people in Q1 2025,  a decrease of 230,700 people compared to the previous quarter, but a year-on-year increase of 532,000 .

The Vietnam News Agency quoted the latest report from the National Statistics Office (NSO) as reporting that Vietnam continues to benefit from its golden demographic structure with some 500,000 people joining the labor force every year.

Meanwhile, the percentage of trained workers continued rising, with 28.8% of the workforce holding diplomas and certificates in the period, up by 0.2 percentage point from the previous quarter and 1 percentage point from the same period last year.

Employment figures during January – March improved from the previous year, with a positive shift in industry structure. The agro-forestry-fishery sector saw decreasing proportions while industry, construction and service sectors witnessed an increase.

Total employment in the period reached 51.9 million people, dropping by 0.4% quarter-to-quarter but rising by 1.04% year-on-year. The agro-forestry-fishery sector employed 13.5 million people, a decrease of 305,000 compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, the industry and construction sectors recruited 17.2 million people and the services sector 21.2 million people, an increase of 262,000 and 575,000 compared to the previous year, respectively.

Average monthly income in Quarter 1 was VND8.3 million (323 USD), up by VND131,000 from the previous quarter and VND720,000 VND from the same period last year.

The NSO said that the unemployment rate among the working-age population stood at 2.2%, down 0.02 percentage point from the previous quarter and 0.04 percentage point year-over-year.

According to Deputy Director of the NSO’s Population and Labor Statistics Department Nguyen Huy Minh, the labor market continues to recover, but the quality of labor supply still faces many limitations and has not met the demands of a modern, flexible, sustainable, and integrated labor market. Despite employment growth, the market lacks sustainability, with 64.3% of workers informally getting unstable, low-income employment, a 0.7 percentage point increase from the previous quarter.

The formal sector faces its own challenges, he said, elaborating while over 72,900 enterprises were established or resumed operations in the three-month period, 78,800 enterprises withdrew from the market. Against the backdrop, he recommended institutional reforms, administrative procedure reductions, and breakthrough support policies for private enterprises.

Besides, the implementation of the Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.18 on streamlining the political apparatus along with the plan to merge provinces and eliminate districts will shift hundreds of thousands of public servants to the private sector, requiring support policies and retraining to help them adapt to new environments.