The labour force aged 15 and above reached 52.9 million people in Quarter 1, showing a decrease of 230,700 people compared to the previous quarter but an increase of 532,000 people year-over-year.

Meanwhile, the percentage of trained workers continued rising, with 28.8% of the workforce holding diplomas and certificates in the period, up by 0.2 percentage point from the previous quarter and 1 percentage point from the same time last year.

Employment figures during January – March improved from the previous year, with a positive shift in industry structure. The agro-forestry-fishery sector saw decreasing proportions while industry, construction and service sectors witnessed an increase.

Total employment in the period reached 51.9 million people, dropping by 0.4% quarter-to-quarter but rising by 1.04% year-on-year. The agro-forestry-fishery sector employed 13.5 million people, a decrease of 305,000 compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, the industry and construction sectors recruited 17.2 million people and the services sector 21.2 million people, an increase of 262,000 and 575,000 compared to the previous year, respectively.

Average monthly income in Quarter 1 was 8.3 million VND (323 USD), up by 131,000 VND from the previous quarter and 720,000 VND from the same period last year.

The NSO said that the unemployment rate among the working-age population stood at 2.2%, down 0.02 percentage point from the previous quarter and 0.04 percentage point year-over-year.

According to Deputy Director of the NSO’s Population and Labour Statistics Department Nguyen Huy Minh, the labour market continues to recover, but the quality of labour supply still faces many limitations and has not met the demands of a modern, flexible, sustainable, and integrated labour market. Despite employment growth, the market market lacks sustainability, with 64.3% of workers informally getting unstable, low-income employment, a 0.7 percentage point increase from the previous quarter.

The formal sector faces its own challenges, he said, elaborating while over 72,900 enterprises were established or resumed operations in the three-month span, 78,800 enterprises withdrew from the market. Against the backdrop, he recommended institutional reforms, administrative procedure reductions, and breakthrough support policies for private enterprises.

Besides, the implementation of the Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.18 on streamlining the political apparatus along with the plan to merge provinces and eliminate districts will shift hundreds of thousands of public servants to the private sector, requiring support policies and retraining to help them adapt to new environments.

Minh also stated that while Vietnam's labour productivity has improved significantly in recent years, the levels remain very low compared to other countries in the region.