Labour market recovery looks toward flexible, safe adaptation

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

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 labour market is facing a risk of crisis when unemployment and underemployment rates rise sharply and workers' incomes fall significantly.

In order to revive the labour 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 labour market shift from urban to rural areas, and from major economic centres to provinces, leading to a risk of temporary labour shortage and the pressure to solve onsite jobs.

A labourer affected by COVID-19 making procedures to receive assistance (Photo: VNA)

The fact shows that the labour shortage in labour-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 Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has issued a programme to support the recovery and development of the labour market.

To increase the labour quality, the programme will focus on training employees, improving the quality of labour 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 labour market support policies in line with respecting the operating principles of the market, and addressing inadequacies, especially factors that cause imbalance between labour supply and demand./.