While the country’s unemployment in general declined slightly, the jobless rate among young people and those holding bachelor’s or master’s degrees surged by 44,000 people in the second quarter of 2017.

The second quarter of 2017 saw an additional 44,000 college graduates unemployed

According to a report on the labor market, 1.08 million working-age people were unemployed in quarter two, down by 20,000 people versus the previous quarter and 7,000 year-on-year. 

The jobless rate was 2.26%, the lowest level in five quarters.

However, up to 180,000 people with bachelor’s or master’s degrees found no jobs in the second quarter, accounting for 3.63% of the jobless, well above 2.79% in the previous quarter.

The same situation also happened to 83,000 college graduates, 21,600 people less than in the first three months, and 93,000 graduates from vocational school, up by 9,400 people. 

The jobless rates of these two groups were 4.96% and 3.5% respectively.

Thus, an additional 27,000 young people were jobless in the last quarter, taking the total to 575,000 and the jobless rate to 7.67% in the period.

Experts said young people found it hard to get good jobs as they have no previous work experience.

The report also indicated that incomes of wage earners in quarter two went down against the first quarter but increased over the year-ago period. 

Specifically, a person could earn VND5.2 million (US$288.41) a month, a decline of VND197,000 or 3.6% compared to the previous three months, but growing VND349,000 or 7.2% year-on year.

Holders of university and higher degrees received the highest income, VND7.5 million per month. 

Notably, monthly incomes of people with associate’s degrees were VND6.04 million, even higher than salaries of those with college and vocational diplomas.

SGT