Vietnam Today

The 2021 Economic and Administrative Census, released by the General Statistics Office on June 29, found that the average workforce at enterprises in general declined in the 2016-2020 period, but the number of workers in the non-State sector increased. The economic structure continued to shift positively, towards reducing the proportion of agriculture, forestry, and fishery and increasing the proportion of industry, construction, and services.

Total retail sales of consumer goods and services in June reached nearly VND472 trillion ($20.26 billion), up 1.4 per cent against May and 27.3 per cent year-on-year. In the first half, total retail sales stood at VND2,717 trillion ($116.64 billion), up 11.7 per cent year-on-year.

Fifty business members of the Vietnam Young Entrepreneurs Association attended the Belgium-Vietnam Trade and Investment Promotion Opportunity Forum in Brussels on June 28, with the theme “Business Cooperation with Vietnam”. In his address to the Forum, Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium, H.E. Nguyen Van Thao, emphasized four potential areas of cooperation: agriculture, green growth, seaports and logistics, and innovation.

Human resources must meet international standards if Vietnam hopes to raise the bar in its tourism industry. A number of large enterprises in the country have stepped up cooperation with international corporations on personnel training. In particular, Nova Service is developing Nova College in Ho Chi Minh City, with the goal of becoming the leading college-level training institution in Vietnam for the hospitality industry.

The CPI increased 0.69 per cent in June over May and 3.37 per cent year-on-year. Continuous increases in gasoline prices and the resulting rise in the price of essential goods and services were the main reasons behind the increase.

The price of domestic construction steel has recently been cut by enterprises by between VND50 and VND310 per kilo. Thus, from June 19 to June 27, construction steel saw prices cut twice and from May 11 to June 27 seven times. The steel price is now VND15,960 - 17,760 ($0.68 - 0.76) per kilo.