EMPLOYEES’ AVERAGE INCOME INCREASES

Workers at a local garment factory in Vietnam - PHOTO: ARCHIVES

• Coping with unstable labor markets
• Tax incentives proposed for high-skilled workers, long-term investors

HCMC – Average monthly income of workers in the first quarter reached VND9 million, up 3.8% from the previous quarter and 8.5% from a year earlier, according to the National Statistics Office.

Male workers earned an average of VND10.1 million per month, compared with VND7.7 million for female workers. In urban areas, average income reached VND10.7 million per month, while in rural areas it was VND7.9 million.

The country now has 53.6 million people of working age which starts from 15, down 232,900 from the previous quarter but up 687,800 year-on-year, the data showed. The number of employed workers in the first quarter was estimated at 52.5 million, up 1.3% from a year earlier. The employment structure continued to shift positively across sectors.

The labor force participation rate was 68.3%, while labor quality continued to improve, with 29.6% of workers holding formal qualifications, up 0.8 percentage point from a year earlier.

The services sector remained dominant with 21.5 million workers, accounting for 41% of total employment and increasing by more than 426,000 from the same period in 2025. The industry and construction sector also expanded, rising by 417,900 workers to 17.7 million.

By contrast, employment in agriculture, forestry and fisheries declined slightly to 13.3 million, accounting for 25.3% of the total.

The share of informal employment stood at 62.2%, down 2.1 percentage points year-on-year, indicating a shift toward more stable forms of employment.

According to the report, unemployment and underemployment remained well controlled within target levels. The unemployment rate among the working age population was 2.21% in the first quarter, largely unchanged from previous periods.

The underemployment rate among the working age population remained stable at 1.68%, with the agricultural sector accounting for the highest share due to its seasonal nature.

The labor market still faces certain challenges. The unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 24 was 8.86% in the first quarter, including 10.7% in urban areas.

Notably, nearly 1.6 million young people nationwide were not in employment, education or training, accounting for 11.4% of the total youth population.

Source: The Saigon Times