Phung said Vietnam has 90 million people and 60 million workers. A report from MOLISA said that in 2014, Vietnam had more than 5 million workers with higher education level (7.3 percent), and 200,000 of them were unemployed, or 4 percent.

However, Phung said the situation would be serious only if the unemployment rate is five percent of higher, while a low unemployment rate would only create competitive impetus for employees and training establishments. To some extent, this brings positive effects.

“The number of 200,000 unemployed university grads must not be seen as a bugbear for students,” she said.

However, Phung said the figure should be seen as a warning for students and parents to consider before deciding what students should do after finishing high school.

Do Van Dung, rector of the HCMC University of Polytechnic Education, also commented that there was no need to have a pessimistic view about the unemployment of university grads.

A report from MOLISA said that in 2014, Vietnam had more than 5 million workers with higher education level (7.3 percent), and 200,000 of them were unemployed, or 4 percent.

He said the unemployment of university grads is not only the story of Vietnam, but of many countries, including developed ones.

In Finland, for example, which has an advanced education system, the unemployment rate of trained workers is 12 percent.  In China, with a large population, the unemployment rate is at 4 percent.

“As such, 431,000 redundant trained workers in Vietnam is quite normal,” he said.

Dung went on to say that he knows many university graduates who were not working in their training majors, but are studying other subjects in an effort to find jobs in more attractive fields.

MOET’s Minister Phung Xuan Nha also said there are many reasons for university graduates to be unemployed. Even Harvard University has graduates who are jobless or take jobs outside of their university major. 

Some analysts commented that there was no need to worry, because the graduates could be a valuable resource of startups. 

If all engineering and bachelor’s degree graduates chose to become salaried employees, there would not be a startup movement.

In August 2016, Nguyen Thanh Tu, who was then an unemployed software programmer for five years, received VND1 billion worth of investment capital from Facebook for his startup project for a mobile game.

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