Vietnam’s jobless rate stood at around 1.84% in the second quarter, the lowest in the past year, according to the Institute of Labor Science and Social Affairs.

Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, head of the institute, told a meeting held in Hanoi on September 3 to announce the latest report on the country’s labor market that 871,800 people of working age were jobless as of July 1, down by 174,000 people against the first quarter and 155,000 people over a year ago.

Unskilled laborers accounted for 60% of the jobless in the second quarter while people with university and higher degrees made up 17%. The number of unemployed who are unskilled and holders of university degrees or higher fell by 10.37 and 1.47 percentage points respectively against the first quarter.

According to the report, labor supply was 69.3 million people in the second quarter, rising 0.2% over the first quarter and 0.5% year-on-year.

Labor supply in the second quarter reflects an aging population in the country as the number of young workers fell 4.48% year-on-year while middle-aged laborers increased 3.33% against last year.

The recovery of manufacturing, processing and construction sectors contributed a major part to the growth of job demand in April-June, generating 345,600 new jobs for the market.

Sectors with falling recruitment demand in the period included financial-banking and insurance with reductions of 66,600 people in total, and wholesale, retail and vehicle repair down by 23,500 employees.

Pham Minh Huan, Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said the recovery of the economy would place positive impacts on the labor market in the coming time.

Recruitment demand will keep increasing in manufacturing and processing sector, electricity generation and distribution and combustibles, post and communications, healthcare and social affairs with average growth rates of 3.5-4% compared to the first six months, Huan said.

Labor demand of financial-banking and insurance firms is forecast to continue falling. However, the lack of high-quality labor to restructure the economy will remain a major challenge in the coming time.

SGT/VNN