Urban unemployment rate estimated to be below 4% this year

On the morning of October 7, in Hanoi, the National Assembly's Committee on Social Affairs held its second plenary session. Taking place over two days, the main content of this session is to review and discuss reports on the implementation of the socio-economic development plan and state budget in 2016; the 2017 plan under the management of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Health.

Reporting at the meeting, a representative of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs said that in the past 9 months, the tasks of developing the labor market, creating jobs, providing vocational training, improving the quality of human resources as well as reducing poverty and ensuring social security have been implemented synchronously and effectively, contributing to the completion of the socio-economic development tasks in 2016. The unemployment rate, poverty reduction rate, and the rate of trained workers are all estimated to meet the targets assigned by the National Assembly.

Workers search for jobs through the Labor Market Information Board. Photo: VNA

This year, the urban unemployment rate is estimated to be below 4%; the national poverty rate is estimated to decrease to 8.62 to 8.42%.

Delegate Do Thi Lan, a member of the Committee, was concerned about the accuracy of the unemployment rate figures. The delegate pointed out that the coal industry is an industry that provides a large number of jobs, but this year, the coal industry has encountered many difficulties and cannot compete with imported coal.

The latest report shows that the coal industry has lost tens of thousands of workers and continues to decline. The oil and gas industry has also reduced prices and output. Furthermore, after the environmental incident in the central coastal region, the number of workers in the fishing and tourism sectors has decreased significantly. In addition, businesses have recovered but not yet been sustainable enough to meet the requirements of job creation for workers.

Many delegates suggested that the Ministry's report should review the figures on unemployment rate and trained labor rate because they believe that there is currently a big paradox: the higher the level of trained labor, the higher the unemployment rate.

Delegate Nguyen Quang Tuan, a member of the Committee, assessed that there is a large gap between the spontaneous training of individuals, training centers and the labor market. This gap is growing, leading to a waste of money and time for training but a lack of workers who are truly capable of working.

Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri, a member of the Committee, also shared this assessment, saying that current training is not following the market but rather following tastes and profits.

In 2017, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs determined the development orientation in the field of labor and employment to develop the labor market, create synchronous factors of the labor market, ensure the unity and flexibility of the labor market, facilitate the recruitment and use of labor by enterprises and opportunities for workers to access the labor market.

Units improve the quality of labor market forecasting and information, promote the role of the employment service center system; promote job consulting and referral activities, effectively implement policies and solutions to create jobs for workers; focusing on young people, university graduates, workers with disabilities, and workers from ethnic minorities.

According to Vietnam+