The number of unemployed in the first quarter of 2017 stands at about 1.14 million, in which more than a half are young people aged from 15 to 24, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Its latest report shows that the number of unemployed in the first quarter rose by more than 20,000 year-on-year but was down 16,000 quarter-on-quarter. 

The country’s unemployment rate is 2.08 per cent.

The unusually high unemployment rate among young people is significant, with more than 500,000 young people aged between 15 and 24 being out of work.

The youth unemployment rate in the country as a whole is 6.96 per cent, more than three times higher than the overall unemployment rate, the GSO noted.

Average monthly incomes for paid workers was VND5.58 million ($246), up VND412,000 ($18.15) quarter-on-quarter and VND415,000 ($18.28) year-on-year. 

The reason for the increase is primarily the basic wage adjustment policy for civil servants, officials and armed forces that took effect in mid-2016.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Xuan Mai, Director of the GSO’s Population and Labor Statistics Department, said that the impact of the Formosa steel mill pollution incident in central provinces caused the unemployment rate in Ha Tinh province to increase from 2.16 per cent before the incident to 17 per cent.

Following the incident, Ha Tinh has created 21,986 jobs, of which 11,000 were taken by local workers and 4,600 by workers outside of the province, while over 6,200 workers were exported overseas.

According to Ms. Mai, the operations of 275 enterprises and 44 cooperatives are still temporarily suspended due to the Formosa incident.

Ha Tinh’s workforce is currently around 719,000 people, with more than 10,000 at Formosa, of which foreign workers number more than 2,000. 

However, according to the GSO, the unemployment rate in Ha Tinh is still high, at 3.5 per cent in the first quarter, while the overall rate in the country is 2.08 per cent.

“In Quang Binh province, due to low labor skills, it is still difficult for workers to be exported,” Ms. Mai said. 

“The unemployment rate in Quang Tri also increased in 2016, to Ha Tinh’s level and higher than the country as a whole.”

VN Economic Times