The overall unemployment rate in Vietnam fell in the last months of 2016 but the graduate unemployment rate actually increased.

Graduate unemployment rises

The statistics were announced at the conference about Vietnam’s labour market in the fourth quarter of 2016 held on March 29 by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the General Statistics Office.

The employment rate in the agriculture, aquaculture and forestry sectors have decreased while monthly wages increased.

54.56 million people were in employment in the final quarter of last year. About 1.11 million people of working age were unemployed, a decrease of 7,700 people from the previous quarter, but an increase of 58,400 people compared to the same period in 2015.

Some 471,000 people with qualifications, accounting for 42.43% of the unemployed, failed to find jobs. 343,600 college and university graduates were unemployed. The unemployment rate among young people stood at 7.28%.

Dao Quang Vinh, head of the Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said many policies for the labour market had had good results such as introducing jobs via employment service centres and improving labour export markets.