An increasing amount of university graduates are being forced to take jobs that are not in the fields of their majors.
More university graduates opt for manual labour
Nguyen Van Nien, from Nam Dinh Province, said that after graduation his school doors opened him to a very difficult job market. The main problem, according to him, was a lack of work experience. He was offered a job at a printing company, but because it had nothing to do with what he studied, he refused. He is currently seeking work elsewhere.
Another recent graduate decided to take a position at Cannon Vietnam. She said that the decision came after a number of other experiences working for private companies with low salaries.
According to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, currently 9.75 million labourers in Vietnam with university degrees are working in industries outside their area of expertise. This number shows no signs of decline.
Manpower conducted a survey showing that there were over 1,000 employees at the Cannon Vietnam factory with university degrees. Some have said, however, that the figure may be higher because many do not want to admit they have studied and taken a relatively low-paying job.
Dinh Thi Hang, from Daiwa, said that most companies involving manual labour recruit high school graduates because they are concerned that university graduates may actively seek other employment.
A representative of one job recruitment centre in Hanoi said that only about one-third new graduates who attend their seminars are able to find a satisfactory job.
Cao Quang Dai, from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs’ General Department of Vocational Training, commented that the fact that these statistics reveal a problem in the Vietnamese education and training sector. He warned that the unemployment rate in the country could rise when Vietnam officially enters the ASEAN Economic Community if the quality of the domestic labour force is not improved.
According to Dai, it is important to increase cooperation between enterprises and vocational training schools.
Sukti Dasgupta, a senior expert at the International Labour Organisation, also pointed out the importance of vocational training, saying that it is important that Vietnam encourages cooperation between the the public and private sectors in order to create a viable workforce that is in concurrence with market demands.
Nguyen Thi Kha, National Assembly deputy of Tra Vinh Province, suggested that the government close universities with high rates of unemployed graduates.
