Nha sent a report to National Assembly’s deputies, explaining contentious issues of the education sector before he attended the Q&A session this week.

Regarding the tertiary education quality, MOET admitted that quality is not high and 200,000 university graduates of working ages, or 4 percent of the total 5 million workers with higher education level, are unemployed.

However, the report pointed out that the proportion is not high, and that the graduates either work in untrained fields or refuse to move to areas which suffer from labor shortage. The problems in Vietnam are also being faced by many other countries. 

The current policies cannot encourage startups. There is significant disparity in living conditions among different regions, thus creating a labor oversupply in some regions and deficiency in others. Some localities are suffering from a labor shortage, but cannot attract qualified workers.

Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, head of the Institute for Labor & Social Sciences, said the definition of unemployment has remained unchanged over many years.

Vietnam carries out surveys on employment rate each quarter, with the assistance of the International Labor Organization (ILO).

‘Unemployed workers’ means individuals aged 15 and higher who have working capability and demand, and are looking for jobs, but have not found them.

There are the individuals who cannot find jobs in their majors, but do other work which brings income. 

“So, bachelor’s and master’s degree graduates are still listed as ‘having jobs’ if they work as taxi motorbike drivers or street ice tea salesmen,” he said. 

“These people don’t have good jobs which bring high income, but they must not be listed as unemployed,” she said.

Also according to Huong, there are people who refuse job opportunities because of low salaries and unsatisfactory working conditions. They are called the ‘voluntary unemployed’ and are not included as officially unemployed workers.

Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam also said before the National Assembly on June 6 that it is unreasonable to expect 100 percent of university graduates to find jobs. 

The existence of unemployed workers with bachelor’s degrees is seen in all countries and this, to some extent, promotes competition among training establishments.

The government has instructed universities to publicize their proportions of graduates who find jobs within 12 months after graduation.

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