Young deliverymen and xe om drivers are waste of resources

However, this also raises a question: is this phenomenon wasting the country's human resources?

Vietnamese youth increasingly attach importance to studying and improving their qualifications. Many people, even at a very young age, have achieved bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degrees.

However, with the explosion of technology and increasing competition in the job market, many young people have chosen the path to join the delivery force, drive a motorbike taxi to make a living.

There are many reasons why highly qualified young people choose to work as a delivery person or motorbike taxi driver. One of the main reasons is due to the flexibility and attractive income.

A third-year student at the University of Technology, one of the top in Vietnam, once told me: "I've been a delivery person for six months now. Because my school schedule only takes half a day, I work the other half to earn extra income. Sometimes I delivered goods during the day, then at night I worked as a tutor. My family is not well-off, so I have to work to have money to take care of myself in Hanoi. Thanks to this job, I also save a small amount of money every month to send to my parents."

But most delivery service providers do not sign labor contracts, putting their drivers at a disadvantage when it comes to accidents and abuse, harassment, or even robbery.

A student who graduated with a merit degree from Hanoi University of Civil Engineering told me that, after five years of hard study with an engineering degree, he hoped to graduate and have a good job to be able to take care of himself.

However, many places in the field offer a starting salary of only VND5 million for a new graduate, hardly enough for a life in Hanoi.

"I initially chose to be a deliveryman just hoping to have some temporary income while I was looking for a job. But over time, I realized that this job could be the better choice. I haven't applied for a job in about three months now. Instead, I've been working full-time as a delivery person, earning VND10-15 million per month," the student told me.

These young people working as deliverymen and motorbike taxi drivers can lead to negative consequences for society. First, it can waste the country's potential human resources, when highly qualified young people do not use knowledge and skills they learn from universities to serve national development.

Second, whatever they learn in college will get rusty over time, they have no chance to up those kills and gain academic experience, so they only make the country’s unskilled workforce grow larger.

There is a need for intervention from educational organizations to reorient career paths for young people. At the same time, there needs to be supportive policies to help them make the most of their qualifications and skills, while providing them with appropriate career opportunities.

Only then can we prevent the waste of high-quality human resources and ensure the country's sustainable development.