The unemployment rate in Vietnam reached 2.3% last year, but the number of jobless people still centered on those with bachelor’s or master’s degrees, according to an online conference in Hanoi last Friday.

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs said in its report that the ministry has focused efforts on looking for solutions to develop the labor export market as the domestic market is having trouble.

Around 1.6 million people were offered jobs last year, a 1% year-on-year increase. Of which some 1.5 million employees earned jobs in the country, up 0.3%, and 126,000 were sent overseas as guest workers, up 9.6%. The unemployment rate was 2.3%, broken down into a high rate of 3.18% in urban areas and 1.86% in the countryside.

However, there are still many shortcomings in creating jobs, especially for young adults and fresh college and university graduates. The third quarter of last year saw 202,000 with university or higher degrees unemployed. The number of students enrolled in vocational schools was still limited.

In addition, the number of Vietnamese working overseas illegally after the expiration of their work contracts has declined but still quite high in South Korea and Taiwan.

The number of workers sent overseas for guest work in 2016 grew by over 9%. However, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam warned there should be stringent regulations towards Vietnamese employees working overseas. Otherwise, potential and major markets like Japan and South Korea will reject Vietnamese workers in the future.

SGT