Although it is put under control, the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has hit all aspects of the social life, seriously affecting businesses and people. The labor market is facing a risk of crisis when unemployment and underemployment rates rise sharply and workers' incomes fall significantly.
In order to revive the labor market, create more jobs, and ensure the continuity of production and business activities, Vietnam is focusing on implementing many solutions aiming to flexibly and safely adapt to the new normal.
According to a report of the General Statistics Office, nearly 160,000 enterprises entered or re-entered the market in 2021, a deep decrease compared to the previous year, while 119,800 enterprises withdrew from the market, an increase of nearly 18 percent year-on-year.
Along with unemployment, the pandemic has made the labor market shift from urban to rural areas, and from major economic centers to provinces, leading to a risk of temporary labor shortage and the pressure to solve onsite jobs.
The fact shows that the labor shortage in labor-intensive industries such as garment and textiles, footwear, e-commerce and retail has made many businesses unable to increase their capacity when production is recovered. Many are only operating at 75 percent compared to the time before the pandemic outbreak.
The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has issued a program to support the recovery and development of the labor market.
To increase the labor quality, the program will focus on training employees, improving the quality of labor supply, stepping up digital transformation and in-person teaching in vocational education, and investing more in high-quality schools.
Minister Dao Ngoc Dung affirmed the need to build labor market support policies in line with respecting the operating principles of the market, and addressing inadequacies, especially factors that cause imbalance between labor supply and demand.- (VNA/VLLF)
