More than 32 million workers impacted by pandemic in Việt Nam

HÀ NỘI — The labour market in the fourth quarter of  二0 二0 showed many signs of improvement compared to the previous quarter, but many in Việt Nam still suffered from job or income losses, according to the General Statistics Office of Việt Nam (GSO).

In Wednesday meeting reviewing the labour market situation of the fourth quarter and whole of  二0 二0, GSO noted that as of December, there were are  三 二. 一 million people aged  一 五 years and over negatively affected by the COVID- 一 九 pandemic, including losing their jobs, taking time off work, and reducing working hours.

Up to  六 九. 二 per cent of people faced income reductions,  三 九. 九 per cent had to cut working hours and take time off work, and about  一 四 per cent had to stop working altogether.

The service sector was most affected by the pandemic with  七 一. 六 per cent of workers affected, followed by industry and construction with  六 四. 七 per cent, and the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector with  二 六. 四 per cent.

The labour force aged  一 五 and over in the fourth quarter of  二0 二0 was  五 五. 一 million people, an increase of  五 六 三, 八00 people compared to the previous quarter, but lower than the same period of  二0 一 九.

This once again confirmed the recovery of the labour market after recording a decline in the second quarter of  二0 二0.

Generally in  二0 二0, the labour force aged  一 五 and over reached  五 四. 六 million people, a decrease of  一. 二 million people compared to  二0 一 九.

Out of the  一. 二 million people pushed into unemployment,  五 一. 六 per cent were women and most of them of working age.

In the  二0 一 六- 二0 一 九 period, the average annual labor force increased 0. 八 per cent. If the workforce in  二0 二0 maintained the same growth rate as in the  二0 一 六- 二0 一 九 period and there was no COVID- 一 九 pandemic, Việt Nam’s economy would have  一. 六 million more employees.

In other words, the pandemic has deprived  一. 六 million people of the opportunity to enter the labour market.

Average monthly income of employees in the fourth quarter of  二0 二0 reached VNĐ 五. 七 million (US$ 二 四 七), up VNĐ 二 一 二,000 (US$ 九. 一) against the previous quarter and down VNĐ 一0 八,000 from the same period of  二0 一 九.

GSO’s reco妹妹endations

For the first time in  一0 years, Việt Nam’s economy has witnessed a serious decline in the number of people entering the labour market and the number of people employed.

The average income of workers was also down. The indicators on the unemployment rate, underemployment rate and the rate of workers with informal jobs have all increased in contrast to the decreasing trend in recent years.

With the development of the COVID- 一 九 pandemic, especially a new variant of the virus that has a higher spread, the effects of the disease on life and production will be very unpredictable.

In order to proactively respond and adapt to the evolution of the pandemic to both control the pandemic and promote production and business, it is necessary to carry out several measures and policies.

First, the government should offer policies to help businesses overcome difficulties and avoid bankruptcy as well as help labourers keep their jobs. The policies will also motivate production and business development.

Second, the government should further deploy assistance packages, diversify forms of assistance and open more vocational training progra妹妹es, especially for female labourers, manual labourers and part-time labourers, contributing to social welfare stabilisation and economic recovery from the pandemic.

At present, about  七 五 per cent of the Vietnamese labour force are not trained. This is a major limitation of the Vietnamese economy in the context of a pandemic still spreading and the fourth industrial revolution taking place around the world.

The low quality of the labour force will be a barrier of opportunities to adapt and catch up with new technology trends and new business methods.

Therefore, in the future, Việt Nam needs to actively renew and implement training and retraining policies to improve the quality of human resources to adapt to the requirements of economic growth and development. — VNS