Vietnam second quarter unemployment rises to 2.3%

Vietnam’s unemployment rate rose 0.05 percentage points from the first quarter to reach 2.3% in the second, or over 1.07 million people, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported Thursday.

However, the figure was down 0.02 percentage points year-on-year.

The unemployment rate was 2.75% in urban areas and 2.01% in rural areas. The highest rates were found in the Mekong Delta at 2.65% and the southeastern region at 2.64%. The GSO attributed this to the polonged shortage of orders for businesses from Q4/2022 to Q2/2023.

The lack of orders led to 241,500 people losing their jobs or having working hours cut, of which the foreign-invested sector accounted for 84.1%. Sector-wise, the footwear and the apparel-textile sectors accounted for 66.3% and 14.4% of the total, respectively.

Localities with the highest number of workers losing their jobs or having their working hours cut were the central province of Thanh Hoa with 98,300; the northern province of Ninh Binh with 19,800; the southern province of Binh Phuoc with 17,000; and the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang with 11,900.

The unemployment rate among the youth aged between 15 and 24 was 7.41% in Q2/2023, down 0.2 percentage points from Q1/2023 and 0.22 percentage points from Q2/2022. This rate was 9.6% in urban areas and 6.29% in rural areas.

Meanwhile, the underemployment rate reached 2.06% in Q2/2023, or 940,700 people, up 0.12 percentage points from Q1/2023 and 0.1 percentage points from Q2/2022.

The Mekong Delta recorded the highest figure at 3.01%, while that of the Red River Delta was the lowest at 1.03%. The rates were 2.61% in the north-central and central coastal region, 2.59% in the Central Highlands, 1.92% in the northern mountainous region, and 1.76% in the southeastern region.

The total of unemployment and underemployment was 2.2 million people or 4.3% of the workforce, above the normal rate of 4%, the GSO noted.

This rate peaked at 10.4% during the Covid-19 peak in Q3/2021 and dropped to 3.9% in Q4/2022 as the economy reopened and recovered.

Vietnam’s workforce grew 1.35% year-on-year to 52.3 million in Q2/2023, including 27.67 million males and 24.65 million females. The proportion of trained workers was 26.8%, up 0.6 percentage points year-on-year.

Average income falls

The average monthly income of a worker was VND7 million ($297) in Q2/2023, down by VND79,000 ($3.36) or 1.14% versus Q1/2023. However, the figure was an increase of VND355,000 ($15.08) or 5.3% from Q2/2023.

By gender, the average monthly income was VND8 million ($340) for males and VND5.8 million ($246) for females. It was VND8.5 million ($361) in urban areas and VND6.1 million ($259) in rural areas.

A GSO survey covering the first six months of this year found that 6% of households recorded lower incomes while 94% had unchanged or higher incomes. Of households with reduced incomes, 38.4% said family members had lost their jobs or had working hours cut; 27.4% blamed higher production costs; and 22.8% said lower sales revenue was responsible.