The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs believes that labor markets both domestically and internationally will recover quickly. It has been forecast that many occupations will see recruitment accelerated during the last quarter of the year. The Ministry will balance the country’s workforce and those heading abroad in a way that is most beneficial to workers.
Along with strong GDP growth in the third quarter of 2022, Vietnam’s labor market has also witnessed more “bright spots”, with the number of employed people increasing by more than 255,000 quarter-on-quarter and 3.5 million people year-on-year. The average income of workers in processing and manufacturing and accommodation services is seeing high growth, showing that key economic sectors have recovered strongly.
Speaking at the “Development of a flexible, modern, sustainable and integrated labor market” conference on August 20, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized the importance of workers within the economy. Breakthroughs are needed to attract high-quality human resources, he went on, such as reforming wages, creating a good working environment, and comprehensively renovating the training and vocational education system.
According to Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung, Vietnam’s labor market is experiencing a partial imbalance in supply and demand as well as uneven development due to an excess of under-qualified and low-skilled workers and a shortage of high-quality human resources. If the latter is not improved, Vietnam will gradually lose its appeal among foreign investors.
Many workers who were employed overseas have experience and foreign language skills but still struggle to find a job, while many businesses are short of workers and struggling to recruit. The main reason for such a paradox is that many of these workers find salaries to be too low compared to what they earned while abroad.
Policymakers, businesses, and representatives from associations attending the Business Leaders Forum 2022 discussed the labor changes needed as businesses recover from Covid-19.
According to the General Statistics Office, Vietnam’s workforce totaled 51.2 million people in the first quarter of 2022, an increase of 200,000 over the same period last year, while unemployment stood at around 1.1 million, down nearly 490,000 people compared to the previous quarter. In terms of workforce quality, the number of trained workers in the first quarter represented 26.1 per cent of the total; 0.1 percentage points higher than in the same period last year.