Socio-economic performance brisk in Q1 with COVID-19 under control

This information was provided by the General Statistics Office (GSO) during a press briefing to discuss socio-economic performance in the first quarter of the year held on March 29 in Hanoi.

During the press conference, Nguyen Thi Huong, general director of the GSO, said that both the unemployment and underemployment rates in the working age declined compared to the previous quarter despite still being higher than the same period last year, showing a gradual fall.

Specifically, the country's labour force aged 15 and over the first quarter of the year stood at an estimated 51.2 million people, an increase of more than 441,000 people compared to the previous quarter and a rise of roughly 159,000 compared to the same period from last year.

The labour force participation rate was at 68.1%, up 0.4 percentage points from the previous quarter and a drop of 0.6 percentage points from last year's corresponding period.

Employed labourers aged 15 were estimated to be at 50 million people, an increase of 132.2 thousand people over the same period last year.

During the reviewed period people's lives continued to face plenty of difficulties due to the strong outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, greater attention at all levels was given to social security work in a bid to help people ensure their lives and jobs.

Regarding the current pandemic situation, the number of domestic infections continues to increase rapidly in most provinces and cities, with the BA.2 variant of the Omicron strain spreading faster. However, with a high rate of vaccine coverage across the country, coupled with special attention given to taking care of high-risk people, the number of severe cases fell sharply, with the death rate among infections dropping significantly.

As of March 27, the country recorded more than nine million COVID-19 cases, of which more than five million recovered from the disease and more than 42,000 died.

With regard to traffic accidents, the first quarter of the year saw 2,762 traffic accidents nationwide, killing 1,676 people and injuring 947 people.

According to data compiled by the GSSO, in the first three months of the year a total of 6,068 cases of environmental violations were detected, of which 5,139 cases were handled with a total fine of VND65.8 billion.

Throughout the reviewed period there were 446 fires and explosions in the whole country, killing 23 people and injuring 30 people, with property damage standing at an estimated VND56.7 billion.

The GSO said that amid the complicated nature of the COVID-19 pandemic within the community, along with the global unpredictable economic and political fluctuation, the nation's socio-economic development during the first quarter still enjoyed positive growth. This could be seen across multiple fields due to the participation of the entire political system, the timely, drastic and close direction and management of the Government and the Prime Minister, in addition to the joint efforts of all sectors, localities, the business community, and people nationwide.