Over 1.16 million people unemployed in third quarter

More than 1.16 million people were unemployed in the third quarter of this year, 40,000 more than those in the second quarter, according to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO).

More than 1.16 million people were unemployed in the third quarter of this year, 40,000 more than those in the second quarter, according to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO).

Nguyen Thi Xuan Mai, Director of the Population and Labour Statistics Department (GSO), attributed this fact partly to the recent marine environmental pollution in four central provinces.

In Ha Tinh province alone, the incident affected nearly 23,000 households and thousands of working people. Nearly 24,500 people lost their jobs.

However, by the end of August, more than 15,000 Ha Tinh people had been sent to work overseas. Around 17,000 others will go to work as fishermen and house helpers in Taiwan, the Republic of Korea and Japan in the coming time.

The GSO also reported that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the first nine months of 2016 grew by 5.93% from a year earlier. It posted continuous quarter-on-quarter GDP rises during the period with 5.48% in Q1, 5.78% in Q2 and an estimated 6.04% in Q3. However, the nine-month figure is still slower than the 6.53% recorded in the same period of 2015. This is due to a decline in the mining industry and agricultural growth.