According to a report of Vietnam’s General Statistics Office (GSO), in the second quarter of this year, the fourth outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has deprived more than 2.3 million Vietnamese people of jobs and career opportunities, of which the majority of working age.
The GSO has just announced its report on the labor and employment situation in the second quarter and six months of this year. The rate of underemployment and job loss among workers has increased.
In the second quarter, the underemployment of working age was 1.1 million people, an increase of 173,500 people compared to the previous quarter. The faster, stronger, and more difficult-to-control outbreak of the 4th Covid-19 epidemic has made the underemployment rate of working-age workers in urban areas higher, estimated at 2.8% compared to the previous year. In rural areas, unemployment is estimated to increase by 2.49%.
The current trend of underemployment is different from the trend seen in previous years, with underemployment in rural areas often higher than in urban areas, the GGS said. In terms of three economic sectors, the proportion of underemployed workers in the service sector is the highest with 35.8%, followed by the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector with 35.6%.
The average monthly income of employees in the second quarter, according to the GSO’s data, was only VND6.1 million, down by VND226,000 from the previous quarter and up to VND547,000 over the same period last year.
The uncontrollable developments of the Covid-19 epidemic in the second quarter have interrupted the recovery of workers’ average income from the third quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of this year. The second quarter recorded a decrease in the average income of employees compared to the previous quarter.
In the second quarter, most economic sectors recorded a decrease in the average income of workers compared to the previous quarter. Workers in the industrial and construction sectors are most affected in terms of income.
The number of unemployed people of working age in the second quarter was nearly 1.2 million, an increase of 87,100 people compared to the previous quarter and a decrease of 82,100 people compared to the same period last year.
In terms of rates, the General Statistics Office said that the unemployment rate of working age in the second quarter was 2.62%, an increase of 0.2% compared to the previous quarter and a decrease of 0.23% compared to the same period last year.
Accordingly, the number of unemployed young people aged 15-24 years old is 389,800 people, accounting for 31.8% of the total number of unemployed people. The youth unemployment rate in the quarter was 7.47%, up 0.03 percentage points from the previous quarter and down 0.13 percentage points over the same period last year. The youth unemployment rate in urban areas is 9.57%, 3.11 percentage points higher than in rural areas.
According to the GSO, in the first half of 2021, the underemployment situation was more than 1.1 million people, an increase of 48,200 people compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, the number of unemployed people of working age was more than 1.1 million people, an increase of 101,700 people compared to the same period last year.
In the first half, the number of unemployed youth (people aged 15-24 years) was about 398,900 people, accounting for 34.0% of the total unemployed. The youth unemployment rate was 7.45%, down 0.15 percentage points over the same period last year. The youth unemployment rate in urban areas was 9.97%, down 0.28 percentage points over the same period last year.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
