Unemployment dips slightly in second quarter

It said 162,200 people have been added to the country’s labour force since last year’s second quarter, and 18,600 since the first quarter of this year.

The increase in labour force matched the natural increase in population, the office said.

The number of people with jobs in the second quarter increased 0.1 percent over that of the first quarter.

The GSO said 31.8 percent of the working people are in urban areas and the remaining in rural areas.

It also said 21.3 percent of the country’s working people are reported to having undergone training courses.

The number of trained working people in cities and urban areas is three times higher than that in rural areas.

In the last three months, Vietnam has had an unemployment rate of 2.05 percent or 1.12 million unemployed people. 

In Vietnam, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force.

The slight decrease of unemployment in the second quarter is considered a positive result of Government policies promoting investment, production and trade.

Young people aged 15 to 24 account for 51.3 percent of the unemployed. Notably, 12 in every 100 young people of working age in urban areas are unemployed. The average youth unemployment rate in the whole country is 7.67 percent.

According to the GSO, the youth unemployment rate has remained high because young people are not too keen on looking for jobs during the first quarter, when Tet (Lunar Year Year) and other festivals are celebrated. Many are prone to quit jobs at this time, in the hopes of getting better ones after Tet.

The GSO report also said that readiness to work returns in the second quarter. Additionally, more young people seek jobs to earn extra money during the summer break, which usually starts in June.