Half of Vietnam’s unemployed labourers are under 24

The number of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 was remarkably high for the first six months of the year, accounting for 47 percent of unemployed workers, the General Directorate of Statistics (GDS) said.

The number of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 was remarkably high for the first six months of the year, accounting for 47 percent of unemployed workers, the General Directorate of Statistics (GDS) said.

 

The number of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 was remarkably high for the first six months of the year, accounting for 47 percent of unemployed workers. (Photo by DTiNews)

Results of the GDS survey on the employment situation during the first half of this year show the percentage of unemployed youth as 7.07 of the total, on average. This rate is nearly six times higher than for workers over 25.

The youth unemployment rate was higher in urban areas, at 11.7 percent of the total. This means there is approximately one unemployed youth for every 10 young people in urban areas.

Nguyen Thi Xuan Mai, Head of the GDS’s Department of Population and Labourers Statistics, said the labour force of those 15+ years old reached 54.3 million in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 650,000 compared to the same period last year.

Only 10.8 million of these workers - about 20 percent of the total - received vocational training. Trained workers in urban areas make up 35.7 percent of the total, three times higher than in rural areas.

The survey also revealed the average monthly income of workers is 4.87 million VND (219 USD), a reduction of 291,000 VND (12.9 USD) compared to the first quarter of this year. The average monthly income of workers in urban areas is 1.4 million VND (63 USD) higher than that of labourers in rural areas.