Building stable labour supply chains with policies focused on labourers and ensuring income and social security is one of the solutions to post-pandemic economic recovery in Vietnam, a recent seminar at the 4th Vietnam Economic Forum in HCM City was told. Deputy minister of labour, invalids and social affairs Le Van Thanh said labour supply remains limited.

Some localities and industries, particularly textile-garment, electronic assembling, wood processing, tourism and education, are facing labour shortage 

Building stable labour supply chains with policies focused on labourers and ensuring income and social security is one of the solutions to post-pandemic economic recovery in Vietnam, a recent seminar at the 4th Vietnam Economic Forum in HCM City was told. Deputy minister of labour, invalids and social affairs Le Van Thanh said labour supply remains limited.

The number of labourers with jobs stood at 49.07 million in the fourth quarter (Q4) of last year—down by 1.79 million from a year before. The unemployment rate peaked in Q3 2021 at 3.98 per cent, equivalent to over 1.7 million people. The rate in urban areas reached a record 5.54 per cent in the same quarter.

The average monthly income of labourers dropped from VND 6.7 million in 2019 to VND 5.3 million in 2021.

In particular, there has been a reverse trend in the labour structure, with 1.3 million labourers moving from urban areas to rural areas and from big economic hubs to localities, Vietnamese media reported.

Vice chairman of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour Ng? Duy Hieu underlined the need to create a favourable environment for the labour market to recover and develop, calling for early reforms in policies on wage, social security and social housing.

He also suggested reforming policies on investment attraction to prevent the concentration of too many investment projects in a locality, which puts pressure on the local infrastructure while causing a local labour shortage.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)