VietNamNet Bridge - The 2015 report by the General Statistics Office (GSO) showed that one out of every four unemployed workers has either junior college (3-year training) or higher tertiary level education. 

Unemployed university graduates are understood as those who cannot find jobs within three months after the graduation.

Many Vietnamese now tend to study abroad, where they hope to receive better education. However, many foreign school graduates also remain unemployed.

Many university graduates believe they need to continue studying to obtain higher degrees or have knowledge in other majors to have better job opportunities. 

Hai Van, a postgraduate at the Hanoi Trade University, said she is studying to obtain master’s degree because she has too much free time.

“What can I do now if I do not come back to school?” she said. “And I hope that I may have the chance to attend the civil service exam to become a civil servant. Having more degrees would be an advantage.”

Many others also think this way. This explains why more than 50 percent of the students of the 2013 sociology majoring postgraduate class of the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities were born in 1990 and 1991 and just finished school some years ago.

Many new graduates, tired of looking for jobs because they are not employed or underemployed, have opened their own business with their small capital and skills which have no relations to their training majors.

Ngoc Diep, who finished Hanoi Economics University one year ago, now earns her living with an online hand-made product shop.

“I can earn VND5 million a month from the small shop,” she said. “But I hope I can earn more if I expand my shop.”

Returning to hometowns

This is the choice of the majority of school graduates who cannot find jobs within one or two years of staying in large cities. It is costly to live in large cities and it is not a wise move to stay there and spend money on an unclear future.

Ngoc Yen, who completed her studies at the English faculty of the Hanoi University, has left for her hometown. She now works as an office assistant for at an industrial zone near her house.

“The salary of VND4 million is okay, if you live in the countryside,” Yen said.

However, she regrets the knowledge she got in the four-year study at the university. “I just need to be fluent in typing, Word and Excel now to do my work well,” she said.

Van Chung