In the morning of October 12th, the General Statistics Office (GSO) held a press conference to announce the report on labor and employment situation in the third quarter and 9 months of 2021. Mr. Nguyen Trung Tien – Deputy General Director of GSO chaired the press conference. Attending were departments of GSO and press agencies in Hanoi. The press conference was connected online at the bridge points of some Province Statistics Office.
At the press conference, GSO announced labor and employment data in the third quarter and 9 months of 2021; report on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the labor and employment situation in Vietnam.
According to the report on labor and employment, the Delta variant of the corona virus has had a heavy impact on the Vietnamese labour market in the third quarter of 2021. Accordingly, in the third quarter of 2021, more than 28.2 million people aged 15 and over were negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in various forms of job losses, furloughs, alternate working shifts, reduced working hours, reduced income, etc; the labour force aged 15 and older was 49.1 million people, down 2.0 million people relative to the previous quarter and 2.2 million people down relative to the same period last year. Compared to the previous quarter, the labour force in rural areas decreased by 1.4 million people (accounting for 4.4% of the total labour force in rural areas); the labour force in urban areas decreased by 583 thousand people (accounting for 3.1% of the total labour force in urban areas).
The labour force participation rate in the third quarter of 2021was at the lowest level in the past 10 years with 65.6%, down 2.9 percentage points quarter on quarter and down 3.9 percentage points year on year.
The number of employed workers in the third quarter was 47.2 million, down to the lowest level in many years, down by nearly 2.6 million people relative to the previous quarter and by 2.7 million people relative to the same period last year. The Covid-19 pandemic in the third quarter of 2021 has affected employment status in most regions, especially in the Southeast and the Mekong Delta. In the third quarter of 2021, the number of employed people in the Southeast region was 8.7 million people, a decrease of 1.5 million people (corresponding to a decrease of 14.5%) relative to the previous quarter and a decrease of 1.3 million people (a corresponding decrease of 13.0%) relative to the same period last year; the number of employed people in the Mekong Delta was 8.4 million people, a decrease of 763 thousand people (equivalent to a derease of 8.3%) relative to the previous quarter and a decrease of 925 thousand people (equivalent to a decrease of 9.9%) relative to the same period last year. In other regions, the number of employed people decreased by less than 4%; especially in the Central Highlands, the number of employed people was almost unchanged relative to the previous quarter.
The informal employment rate[1] in the third quarter of 2021 was 54.5%, down 2.9 percentage points relative to the previous quarter and down 2.3 percentage points over the same period last year. The informal employment rate in urban areas was 46.2%, down 2.4 percentage points from the previous quarter and down 3.0 percentage points from the same period last year. This same rate in rural areas was 61.8%, down 2.9 percentage points relative to the previous quarter and down 1.0 percentage point over the same period last year.
The statutory working-age underemployment rate[2] in the third quarter of 2021 was 4.46%, up 1.86 percentage points over the previous quarter and 1.74 percentage points over the same period last year. The statutory working-age underemployment rate in urban areas was higher than in rural areas (5.33% and 3.94%, respectively).
The statutory working-age unemployment rate of 3.98% is the highest increase witnessed in the past 10 years, making it even more difficult for workers to find a job. Unemployment rate of working age workers in the third quarter of 2021 an increase of 1.36 percentage points relative to the previous quarter and an increase of 1.25 percentage points over the same period last year. The urban statutory working-age unemployment rate was 5.54%, an increase of 2.18 percentage points relative to the previous quarter and an increase of 1.60 percentage points over the same period last year.
The average monthly earnings of workers in the third quarter of 2021 were 5.2 million dong, down 877 thousand dong relative to the previous quarter and 603 thousand dong lower than the same period last year. The average monthly earnings of male workers were 1.40 times higher than that of female workers (6.0 million VND compared to 4.3 million VND); the average earnings of workers in urban areas were 1.35 times higher than in rural areas (6.2 million VND compared to 4.6 million VND).
The fourth outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has put heavy pressure on all facets of the Vietnamese economy in general and the labour market in particular. This fact poses great challenges for the Government in its efforts to achieve the growth targets for 2021. In the light of this situation, the General Statistics Office would like to propose a number of solutions to remove difficulties for the labour market in the context of the ongoing and unpredictable developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, as follows:
– Strictly implement applicable measures to bring Covid-19 under control, especially in big cities and provinces with many industrial parks. Strengthen the vaccination strategy by availing of all possible resources to ensure sufficient Covid-19 vaccination for the people towards a community immunity mechanism as soon as possible.
– Implement effectively the relief support packages for businesses and workers to recover from the pandemic; develop and implement programmes and policies that encourage workers, especially young people, to actively and promptly study and upgrade their qualifications and acquire necessary skills in response to the growing requirements of business and production recovery of the economy.
– The Government should formulate policies that encourage provinces to set up official and specialized information channels to update businesses and workers on strategies for economic development, policies for supporting and attracting workers, and local testing and outbreak control plans so that they can take initiative to formulate their own plans for production recovery and development.
[1] The informal employment rate including agriculture in the third quarter of 2021 was 68.1%, down 0.7 percentage points from the previous quarter and down 0.4 percentage points from the same period last year.
[2] Statutory working-age includes: male from 15 to 59 and female from 15 to 54 (from 2020 and earlier); Male from 15 to 60 years old 3 months and female from 15 to 55 years old 4 months (as from 2021 – according to the 2019 Labour Code).