A local newspaper quoted an expert as saying some bachelor’s degree holders now work as taxi motorbike drivers.

Dr Dinh Cong Khai cited surveys as reporting that about 60 percent of university graduates cannot find jobs that fit their majors. 

A high proportion of bachelor’s degree graduates now work for electronics assembling workshops or as hired garment workers in industrial zones. Many university students have joined Grab to become taxi motorbike drivers.

“Grab is not a problem. Grab brings job opportunities. However, Grab doesn’t need drivers with bachelor’s degree. It is so tragic that one spends four years and big money on higher education just to become a taxi driver,” a high school teacher in Hanoi said.

A local newspaper quoted a foreign traveler as saying he was surprised when a taxi motorbike driver could communicate with him in French so fluently. 

Meanwhile, another newspaper posted an ad which said an employer was seeking two candidates who had finished university or junior college for the post of security guard.

The Q2 report of the General Statistics Office (GSO) said the unemployment rate among young people (aged 15-24) is 7.1 percent, three times higher than the average unemployment rate of 2 percent. 

The number of unemployed young people now accounts for 46.5 percent of total unemployed workers in the country.

The report pointed out that 26.7 percent of unemployed workers had experienced training for at least three months. Of these, workers with bachelor’s degrees accounted for the highest proportion, about 43.7 percent, or 127,000.

Analysts say that the high unemployment rate of young trained workers not only shows big problems in the nation’s job structure, but also in education and training quality.

Khai pointed out that while employers complain they find it difficult to find qualified and skilled workers, the number of unemployed workers is sky high.

This is attributed to an education system in which there is no connection between employers and schools, between businesses and education establishments. 

Educators agree that STEM education needs to be applied in all schools in Vietnam. 

However, Dang Thi Thanh Binh from the Trade University said at a recent workshop on the digital economy that  only 12 out of 350 universities in Vietnam have teaching staff with the knowledge and skills to teach with STEM method.

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