Covid success reaped in job recovery, rising incomes: report

In a first quarter report released Tuesday, the GSO said the job market has gradually recovered following detrimental impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks to high vaccination rates and Vietnam’s adaptation strategy.

More people joined the workforce in the first quarter compared to the previous one, especially in the services sector, causing the unemployment rate to fall; and average income rose to VND6.4 million, 20 percent or VND1 million higher than the previous quarter and VND110,000 higher than the same quarter last year, the report said.

It said the figures denoted a remarkable post-Covid change, considering that the average worker’s income was VND5.2 million in the third quarter of 2021.

The quarter-on-quarter rise in workers’ average incomes was highest in the south, at 36.5 percent over the previous quarter in Ho Chi Minh City, to VND8.9 million per person. Corresponding income for its industrial neighbor Binh Duong was VND8.6 million, a 54 percent increase, and Dong Nai was VND8.5 million, a 32.9 percent increase.

On average, workers in the Mekong Delta, the country’s rice basket, saw their average income in the first quarter rose by 27.8 percent over the previous quarter to VND5.6 million, the report said.

In the Red River Delta region, workers’ average income in Hanoi in the first quarter was VND8.5 million, a 17.4 percent increase over the previous quarter. Corresponding figures for Bac Ninh and Hai Phong, major industrial hubs, were VND8.2 million, up 8.3 percent; and VND7.8 million, also up 8.3 percent.

However, there are still problems that need to be addressed, the report said. While more people were getting jobs, many of them were informal workers working in agriculture, forestry and aquaculture. The number of self-employed people had dropped and not returned to pre-pandemic levels, it said.

It recommended that steps are taken to foster a better environment for business and investment; and policies issued to promote self-employment and increase productivity.