The situation of hundreds of thousands of employees forced to take leave, severance, and job loss in enterprises has taken place since the fourth quarter of 2022, lasted until the second quarter of 2023 and tended to shift to the informal sector. shows that the labor market and jobs have recovered but are not sustainable.

 (1) The country’s labor force aged 15 and over in the second quarter of 2023 was estimated at 52.3 million people, an increase of 107.1 thousand people compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 698.2 thousand people over the same period last year; in the first 6 months of the year, the labor force aged 15 and over was 52.3 million people, an increase of 867 thousand people.

 (2) Employment in the second quarter of 2023 was estimated at 51.2 million people, an increase of 83.3 thousand people compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 691.4 thousand people compared to the same period last year; in the first 6 months of the year, employed persons were 51.2 million people, an increase of 902 thousand people.

It is estimated that in the first 6 months of 2023, employed persons in the agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors will be 13.8 million people, accounting for 27% and decreasing by 0.7 percentage points (decreased by 71.8 thousand people) compared to the same period last year; the industry and construction sector was 17.2 million people, accounting for 33.6% and increasing by 0.2 percentage points (increasing 414.9 thousand people); the service sector was 20.1 million people, accounting for 39.4% and increasing by 0.5 percentage points (increasing by 558.9 thousand people).

 (3) The percentage of trained labour force with degrees and certificates in the second quarter of 2023 was 26.8%, up 0.4 percentage points compared to the previous quarter and 0.6 percentage points compared to the same period last year; In general, in the first 6 months of this year, the percentage of trained labour force with degrees and certificates is 26.6%, up 0.5 percentage points.

 (4) The average income of employees in the second quarter of 2023 is VND 7 million/month, down 79 thousand VND compared to the first quarter of 2023 and an increase of 355 thousand VND compared to the same period in 2022. Generally in the first 6 months of 2023, the average income of employees is 7 million VND/month, up 7.6%, equivalent to 497 thousand VND increase over the same period last year.

 (5) The rate of underutilized labor decreases

Vietnam’s rate of underutilized labor usually hovers around 4%. This rate has increased rapidly since the first quarter of 2020 and reached a record high of 10.4% in the third quarter of 2021 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. When socio-economic activities are restored, the percentage of underutilized labor will rapidly decrease from 10.4% to 3.9% in the fourth quarter of 2022. This rate showed signs of increasing again in the first quarter of 2023 (4.5%) and remained at 4.3% in the second quarter of 2023 (corresponding to about 2.2 million people).

In general, in the first 6 months of 2023, the number of underutilized labor is 2.3 million people, a decrease of nearly 0.5 million people compared to the same period last year. The rate of unutilized labor was 4.4%, 1 percentage point lower than the same period last year.

 (6) Subsistence workers continuously decrease over the quarters (from the third quarter of 2021 to present). The number of subsistence workers in the second quarter of 2023 was 3.9 million people, a decrease of 60,000 people compared to the previous quarter and a decrease of 0.4 million people compared to the same period last year, of which nearly 2 million people at working age (accounting for 50.7%). The number of subsistence workers in Vietnam ranges from 3-4 million people and reaches a record high of 5.2 million people in the third quarter of 2021 due to social distancing and complicated developments of the pandemic Covid-19, laborers left urban areas to return to the countryside to do self-destructive jobs. After opening up the economy, the number of subsistence workers and self-consumption continuously decreased because this group of laborers gradually left self-productive jobs in search of stable jobs and better incomes. This is also an inevitable trend of the economic market.

Generally, in the first 6 months of 2023, the number of subsistence workers is nearly 4 million people, a decrease of 0.6 million people compared to the same period last year. Subsistence workers are women, accounting for 62.9%. Out of a total of nearly 4 million people who are self-sufficient production workers, nearly 2.1 million people are of working age (52.5%).

 (1) Employed persons tends to increase, but the labor market develops is not sustainable, the work of workers is unstable and precarious, the working conditions are not secure and the income is low. The pressure to lay off workers from businesses creates a strong shift of labor from the industry and construction sectors (formal workers) to the service sector (mostly informal workers) as laborers informal employment accounts for a large proportion.

The number of people with general informal employment (including laborers working in households in agriculture, forestry and fishery) in the second quarter of 2023 was 33.3 million people, accounting for 65.1% of the total number of employed people and increased by 301.9 thousand people compared to the previous quarter. The main reason is that many industrial enterprises cut workers, so workers tend to shift to the service sector and accept less stable jobs.

 (2) The situation of many enterprises in industries lacking orders occurred from the fourth quarter of 2022 and lasted to the second quarter of 2023, leading to hundreds of thousands of employees having their working hours reduced, losing their jobs, affecting their jobs to the lives of workers.

The number of employees taking leave from businesses across the country in the second quarter of this year was about 241.5 thousand people, down 52.5 thousand people compared to the previous quarter, mainly workers in foreign-invested enterprises (accounting for 84.1%), focusing on the leather and footwear industry with 66.3% and textiles with 14.4%. Some localities have the following number of employees on leave: Bac Giang 9.3 thousand people; Binh Duong 9.8 thousand people; Quang Ngai 10.3 thousand people; Tien Giang 11.9 thousand people; Binh Phuoc 17,000 people; Ninh Binh 19.8 thousand people; Thanh Hoa 98.3 thousand people. The fact that orders decreased has impacted labor in the industrial sector, especially in the textile and garment industry, the wood processing industry and the manufacturing of electronic products, computers and optical products. The number of employees in these industries in the second quarter of 2023 decreased compared to the previous quarter by 142.5 thousand people, 16.9 thousand people and 30.2 thousand people, respectively.

 (3) Employed persons increased, but the underemployment rate in the second quarter of 2023 increased compared to the previous quarter and the same period last year; workers in the South East region are most affected.

The labor market and employment in the second quarter of 2023 did not maintain the momentum of recovery and prosperity as in the first quarters of 2022. The number of underemployed people in the second quarter of 2023 was 940.7 thousand people, an increase of 54,9 thousand people compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 58.9 thousand people over the same period last year; the underemployment rate in the working age in the second quarter of 2023 was 2.06%, an increase of 0.12 percentage points and an increase 0.1 percentage point.

The South East region with many large-scale industrial parks (usually with the lowest underemployment rate in the country under normal conditions) continues to be affected by underemployment from the first quarter of 2023 due to concentration Many large enterprises have their orders cut. In the second quarter of 2023, the underemployment rate among working age in the South East region was 1.76%, an increase of 0.65 percentage points over the same period last year.

Generally in the first 6 months of 2023, the number of underemployed people of working age is 913.2 thousand people, a decrease of 192.2 thousand people compared to the same period last year; the underemployment rate in the working age was 2%, down 0.48 percentage points.

 (4) Although the average income of workers increased, the growth rate of income (5.4%), was much lower than the growth rate of the second quarter of 2022 (8.9%). The average income of laborers working in the industrial and construction sectors was 7.8 million VND, up 4.2% over the same period last year, much lower than the same period in 2022 (11.5%).

 (5) The number of unemployed people and the unemployment rate of working age in the second quarter of 2023 increased compared to the previous quarter.

The number of unemployed people of working age in the second quarter of 2023 was about 1.07 million people, an increase of 25.4 thousand people compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 1.9 thousand people compared to the same period last year; the unemployment rate at working age was 2.3%, increased by 0.05 percentage points and decreased by 0.02 percentage points. Generally for the first 6 months of 2023, the unemployment rate in the working age is 2.27%, down 0.12 percentage points over the same period last year, of which the urban area is 2.71%; in rural areas is 2%.

The situation of labor and employment this quarter shows that the labor market is facing many difficulties and challenges. In order to stabilize and develop an effective and sustainable labor market and ensure the lives of workers, it is necessary to have policies and measures to solve the following challenges:

– Continue to effectively implement policies to support businesses and employees, launch programs to stimulate domestic demand, support trade promotion, seek and exploit new markets, new orders for businesses. It is necessary to have effective solutions to support enterprises lacking capital, high input material prices, difficulties in product consumption, and a number of industries and fields that are adversely affected by the declining demand of the world market. such as: footwear, textiles, electrical-electronics…

– To step up the implementation of human resource development solutions, especially high-quality human resources to meet the development requirements of industries and fields; to arrange, organize, restructure and improve the training quality of vocational education institutions, ensuring the supply of skilled laborers to meet the requirements of socio-economic development; Continue to implement policies to support training and re-training for employees to maintain jobs.

– Continue to perfect the labor market management system that is appropriate, step by step modern, transparent, connected to the national population database and other databases as a basis for building and organizing the labor market. timely and effective implementation of the connection between labor supply and demand, employment and social security./.