At the yesterday press brief, the General Statistics Office of Vietnam reported that the employment rate in the fourth quarter of 2020 was more positive as workers’ wages were higher than prior months.
Unemployment rate in the working age in cities declined slightly compared to the third quarter, 2020 but it was still higher than the same period in years before.
2020 was the first year within ten recent years when Vietnam saw the fall in the number of workers and increase in unemployment. Out-of-work people were seen not only in the agricultural sector, the forestry sector and the fishery sector but also in the industry sector, the construction sector and the service sector.
Specifically, by December , 2020, the country has an estimated 32.1 million Vietnamese people aged 15 and over were negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, in relation to job losses, reduced working hours and incomes. Of these, 69.2 percent were suffering reduced income while 39.9 percent of them were forced to work less hours with lower income.
According to the report, the hardest hit sector was service with 71.6 percent of workers affected. Nearly 1.2 million people in the working age got unemployed, an increase of 277,800 laborers compared to 2019. The rate of job shortage for people in the working age was 2.51 percent including 1.68 percent in big cities and 2.93 percent in rural areas.
Average income of workers in the fourth quarter, 2020 was estimated at VND6.6 million (US$285.3), a surge of VND125,000 compared to the prior month but a fall of VND130,000 compared to the same period in 2019.
Males in Vietnam had an average income that is 1.1 times higher than the average income of females, equivalent to VND6.9 million for males and VND6.3 million for females. The income of earners in big cities is 1.2 times higher than their peers in countryside (VND7.3 million and VND6.2 million respectively).
Generally, the average income of workers was estimated at VND6.6 million in 2020, a reduction of VND100,000 compared to 2019.
