The latest labor bulletin released by MOLISA showed that 1.1 million people of working age were jobless in the first quarter of 2017. Of these, 138,800 people have bachelor’s or higher degrees.
The number of unemployed workers with higher education has decreased by 80,000 (36.5 percent) compared with the fourth quarter of 2016.
The unemployment rate of the group was 2.79 percent in the first quarter of 2017, a sharp decrease from the 4.43 percent in the quarter before.
The number of unemployed workers who finished junior college (3-year training) also decreased by 206,000. In the first quarter of the year, 104,200 junior college graduates were unemployed.
However, despite the decreases in the number of unemployed university graduates, the figure remains very high, according to analysts.
Phan Tuyet, an educator, in her article in Giao Duc Viet Nam, said that young workers tend to be too fastidious about jobs and this is one of the reasons behind the high unemployment rate.
Tuyet, who contacted many employers, found that many university graduates, who don’t have experience, still want leisurely and stable jobs.
Many workers would rather choose jobs at state agencies and accept modest pay of VND3 million than jobs at private companies which can offer the salary of VND5 million a month.
In many cases, workers are willing to pay big amounts of money, up to hundreds of millions of dong, to scramble for jobs at state agencies. They believe that though the jobs bring low pay, these jobs are stable with lifetime recruitment.
They think that the jobs at private companies are too demanding and unstable.
“They (the owners of private companies) could sack you anytime they want,” a fourth-year student of a school in Hanoi said, affirming that she would try to take the civil service examination to become ‘state staff’.
The director of a private business in Hanoi said that his company was not reserved for those who want easy jobs.
“I know many university graduates think with the bachelor’s degree, they should take good jobs with an income of tens of millions of dong a month,” he said.
A labor expert said a relative of his had just given up a job as an accountant at a garment workshop because the monthly salary of VND5.5 million was only enough to cover her basic needs.
“If I were her, I would continue working to get experience before I dream of a better job,” the expert said.
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