Vietnam Q1 unemployment rate slips slightly to 2.24%

Vietnam’s unemployment rate is estimated to have dropped to 2.24% in the first quarter of this year, down 0.02 percentage points from the previous quarter and 0.01 percentage points from the same period last year.

The General Statistics Office estimates the jobless rate at 2.24% and 1.99% in urban and rural areas, respectively.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate among people aged between 15 and 24 is estimated to have surged to 7.99%, a 0.37-percentage-point increase from Q4/2023 and a 0.38-percentage-point rise from Q1/2023.

At the end of March, the country’s workforce aged 15 and above is estimated at 52.4 million, down 137,400 quarter-on-quarter, but up 175,800 year-on-year. This includes 27.86 million males and 24.54 million females, up 7,700 and 168,100 year-on-year, respectively.

The number of employed people aged 15 and above is estimated at 51.3 million in Q1, down 127,000 quarter-on-quarter and up 171,100 year-on-year.

The service sector accounted for the biggest slice of the nation’s workforce with 20.5 million employed workers (up 575,800 year-on-year), followed by industry-construction with 17 million (down 336,400) and agriculture-forestry-fisheries with 13.8 million (down 65,400).

The number of underemployed people in Q1 is estimated to have grown by 26,400 over the quarter and 47,200 over the year to hit 933,000.

The GSO estimates the Q1/2024 average monthly income of contracted workers at VND7.6 million ($316), up VND301,000 ($12) over the previous quarter and VND549,000 year-on-year.

The average monthly income of Vietnamese male and female workers with labor contracts was VND8.6 million and VND6.5 million, respectively; with corresponding figures for urban and rural areas at VND9.3 million ($361) and VND6.5 million ($259), respectively, the GSO report says.

Vietnam's population surpassed the 100-million mark in April 2023, being the 15th most populous country worldwide.