Sluggish economy leaves a million Vietnamese without jobs

　　Nearly one million people are currently unemployed in Vietnam, as the economy has not been able to create enough job opportunities for recent entrants into the labour market as well as the permanently unemployed, according to a labour report released yesterday.

　　The report, jointly conducted by the General Statistics Office (GSO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), also revealed that as many as 1.37 million people are underemployed, which means they are in inadequate employment situations and are available to work additional hours.

　　ILO points out that the economic downturn has forced many people to turn to informal jobs, which often mean low and unstable incomes.

　　Gyorgy Sziraczki, ILO's director in Vietnam, said more resources and support are needed to solve the problem of unofficial employment, which is linked to low productivity, a lack of social protection and low incomes.

　　GSO's report indicates that while the number of employed people has risen by 1.1 million over the past three quarters of 2012, the labour force has increased by the same amount.

　　By October, Vietnam had 53.1 million people over 15 years old in the working group, 52.1 million of which were employed. Nearly 70 per cent of them were rural dwellers.

　　GSO's report indicates that searching for jobs is particularly difficult for young people aged 15-24, who represent 47 per cent of the total number of unemployed people.

　　Ho Chi Minh City leads in unemployment with a rate of 3.9 per cent.

　　The Mekong Delta (not including HCM City) placed second in the ranking with 2.2 per cent and Hanoi placed third with 2.15 perccent.

　　The ILO points out that gender inequality is also apparent from the unemployment statistics, as 2.5 percent of women are unemployed, as opposed to 1.7 per cent of men.

　　While the number of workers in foreign-invested and State-owned companies has gradually decreased over the year, employment in non-State companies, including self-employed and household businesses as well as co-operatives and private companies, has seen a stable upward trend.

　　According to Vietnamworks, an online job placement website, there has been a decrease in the online labour demand over the last months of the year.

　　Forty-eight of the 58 sectors classified by the website saw a decline in the labour demand online compared to the first six months of the year. The most significant declines were witnessed in accounting, logistics and media, which all saw decreases of 55-60 per cent.

　　Nguyen Bich Lam, deputy head of the GSO, said that next year, with help from the ILO, the office will conduct labour surveys and questionnaires according to international standards and release a labour report on a monthly basis.