The labor market continues to be severely affected by the third resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the number of unemployed people in the first quarter rising to nearly 1.1 million, a surge of over 12,100 year-on-year.

Workers at a garment factory. Photo: Kinhtedothi

This resulted in an unemployment rate of 2.42% in the quarter, up 0.08 percentage points compared to the same period of last year.

Head of the Department of Population and Labor Statistics under the General Statistics Office (GSO) Pham Hoai Nam revealed the information at a press conference on April 16 on the labor situation in the January – March period.

During the period, a total of 9.1 million workers aged 15 and over had been affected by the pandemic, in which 540,000 were out of work and 2.8 million forced to take temporarily lay-off.

Other 3.1 million faced reduced working hours or unpaid leave, while 6.5 million people received less income than before.

The agro-forestry-fishery sector was the least affected by the pandemic with 7.5% of its workforce hurt by the pandemic. Meanwhile, over 20% of workers in the services sector are struggling with the current crisis, together with 16.5% in the industry and construction sectors.

Nam also noted that the total number of workforce in the first quarter declined by 1.1 million against the previous quarter and 180,900 year-on-year.

“The latest Covid-19 outbreak in the country has delayed the recovery of the labor market, forcing workers, especially women, to seek jobs in informal sectors,” Nam said.

In the first quarter, the number of people unable to find jobs were 971,400, up 143,200 quarter-on-quarter.

According to Nam, these figures indicate difficulties and challenges that the economy is facing at the moment, saying drastic measures are needed for Vietnam to realize the dual target of both containing the pandemic and boosting economic recovery.

To address issues in the labor market, the GSO recommended the government to soon put the “vaccine passport” into practice, along with setting up criteria for opening up tourism market for foreign tourists.

“This would prevent the services and tourism sectors from missing opportunities to recover and grow,” it added.