Society

The Covid-19 pandemic had a major effect on the number of people going to work abroad. The total in 2021 stood at 45,058, or just 50.06 per cent of the assigned annual plan and 57.29 per cent of the number in 2020.

At an online conference on January 10 to begin tasks in 2022 for Vietnam Social Security (VSS), Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai asked it to perfect institutions, strategies, and planning in social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance. He also said that timely support programs are needed for employers and employees affected by Covid-19, and proposed amendments and supplements to appropriate policies.

Among the 35 million informal workers and farmers in Vietnam, the rate of those participating in voluntary social insurance schemes remains low, at 2.94 per cent in 2021. Major barriers in policies, and benefits being less than for compulsory social insurance, make many unwilling to participate.

Hanoi targets developing 8.4 million sq m of housing this year, of which 241,000 sq m will be social housing. Southern Binh Duong province is striving to develop 1 million housing units for workers and low-income earners in the 2021-2025 period, while Ho Chi Minh City has set a target of average per capita housing reaching 27 sq m by 2025. The supply of social housing will be improved in the future.

Mr. Nguyen Trung Tien, Deputy General Director of the General Statistics Office (GSO), told a January 6 press conference on labor and employment in the fourth quarter of 2021 and the year as a whole that over 1.8 million jobs were created in the final quarter thanks to flexible adaptation to pandemic prevention and control measures to restore the economy. Incomes in industry and construction; agriculture, forestry and fisheries; and services increased compared to the third quarter.

The Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA) has sent a document to the Prime Minister requesting he direct the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to allow credit institutions designated by the State to provide preferential loans to purchase social housing.