VietNamNet Bridge – As of October 1st this year, 53.1 million Vietnamese people have reached working age people, of whom 984,000 remain unemployed and more than 1.3 need jobs.

The main reason is that the national economy has not created adequate jobs for the unemployed and new labourers.

This was confirmed in a 2012 employment report released by the General Statistics Office (GSO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Hanoi on December 18.

In the past nine months, the unemployment rate in rural areas stood at 3.3 percent—much higher than the 1.42 percent in urban areas- but at 2.36 percent for female workers and 1.71 percent for male workers.

Ho Chi Minh City had the highest rate of unemployment (3.29 percent), followed by the Mekong Delta, Northcentral and Central regions (2.21 percent), and Hanoi (2.15 percent). The lowest rate in the Northern midland and mountainous areas region was just 0.77 percent.

The Mekong Delta had the highest rate of job seekers,(4.6 percent), followed by the Red River Delta (3.45 percent), the Highlands (2.9 percent), and Hanoi (0.98 percent). Ho Chi Minh City had the lowest rate (just 0.54 percent).

GSO Head Nguyen Bich Lam said although the average unemployment rate over the reviewed period was 0.33 percent lower than the same period last year, Vietnam will unlikely achieve its projected GDP growth due to the growing number of domestic businesses declaring bankruptcy during the year.

The Vietnamese people are not used to the culture of unemployment. They tend to do any new jobs, even not for their liking for a living.

As Vietnam’s unemployment insurance system is not as strong as in other developed countries, they all try to find work as quickly as possible.

As of 2013 the labour surveys will focus more on the official and unofficial employment sectors with additional questions about work transfer or migration to get accurate data for policy makers and managers.

Gyorgy Sziaczki, ILO Vietnam Director General, stressed the 2012 report once shows that more resources need to be mobilised to address the problems of the unofficial economy which are often linked to low productivity and inadequate incomes.

In addition, Vietnam has to take effective measures against gender inequality in the labour market, as female workers are at higher risk of unemployment than male workers.

Source: VOV online