Over a million Vietnamese reported unemployed in first quarter

By Bui Hong Nhung May 30, 2016 | 03:30 am PT

Data from the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs showed that more than one million people were jobless in the first quarter of this year, up 1.97 percent against the same period last year.

The ministry added that half of the unemployed were young people aged from 15 to 24. Job seekers who had completed higher education accounted for 41.3 percent of the total, while university graduates made up nearly 20 percent.

A representative from the ministry explained that the rising unemployment was due to a slowdown in economic growth that has caused many enterprises to make employees redundant. Moreover, demand for manual workers is high while demand for graduates is fairly low, so the unemployment rate in this demograph is on an upward trend.

The ministry said that about 53.29 million were employed in the first quarter, down 0.4 percent on-year. The ministry expects the figure to touch 54.47 million in the second quarter.