Unskilled workers are "floating" in the job market
Young workers who are not trained and have no skills are mostly "stuck" in the job market because the risk of being fired and losing their jobs is always lurking.
Strong and broad shoulders" must stay home to look after their children
Mr. Tran Duc Huy, from Thu Tri commune, Hung Yen province, once intended to go to work abroad in Japan after graduating from high school because of "poor academic ability" - as he shared. Mr. Huy went to Hanoi in August 2021 to learn Japanese. After that, due to the COVID-19 epidemic, Mr. Huy delayed many times... After that, Mr. Huy gave up the idea of going to Japan and stayed in Hanoi to find a job.
To earn a living, Mr. Huy works as a warehouse keeper for an imported fruit supply company on Hong Ha street (Hoan Kiem ward, Hanoi). The job is not hard, Mr. Huy works 1 weekday shift, then 1 week night shift; is fed, only costs rent, salary of 8.5 million VND/month.
In August 2024, Mr. Huy got married, in July 2025, his wife gave birth. After maternity leave, his wife went to work, Mr. Huy was forced to quit his job because there was no one to look after the child.
“We are looking for someone to hire to look after the children during the day, but the lowest rental price is about 8 million VND/month. If I go to work, it's considered that my salary is just enough to pay the person who carries the child. My wife's salary is about 14 million VND/month, after weighed and weighed, we decided to let my wife go to work, I will look after the children until they can eat porridge, then send them to a house to take care of them near the rented area,” Mr. Huy said.
To have more money to support his family, every day, when his wife finishes her shift, Mr. Huy takes advantage of running a technology motorbike taxi.
Young people with strong shoulders and shoulders have to stay home to take care of children for their wives to go to work, I am very frustrated and sad, but the circumstances cannot be different... People without education, without skills like me also do not have many job choices. If I go to work, it is just unskilled labor, low salary...", Mr. Huy said.
Repetition... unemployment
Graduating from a college degree in marketing, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thoa (Chuong My ward, Hanoi) had to carry a resume to apply for a job 7 times in the past 3 years. The reason, according to Ms. Thoa, is that when the company has a need to cut staff or rearrange positions, she is always in the first group to be fired.
My degree is not highly appreciated, and practical experience is also "ineffective" because I only work for small, micro or private enterprises. I also plan to study further and supplement my degree, but for now I have to have income to ensure my life," Ms. Thoa said.
Born in 2003, going to work and falling into the "record" of unemployment, Ms. Thoa said she always felt unfinished because her studies were not up to par, her job was precarious, and she did not dare to think about getting married. "I am very afraid of getting married, having children, and income not being guaranteed. Many of my friends tried to stay in the city, but after having children, most... surrendered, returning to their hometowns to start a business because income could not guarantee that too much life would arise and many things had to be spent when the family had more members," Ms. Thoa recounted.
These days, Ms. Thoa returned to the rented room in Cau Giay ward, moved to Chuong My ward to live with her parents and continued her job search journey.
Not only Ms. Thoa, young workers without skills, studying "not high enough, not low enough" are also facing many difficulties when sticking to the city.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, former Director of the Institute of Labor Science and Social Affairs, said that the consequence of "mediocre" qualifications is that labor will be "sluggish" in the labor market and become the most vulnerable target in major cities.
This group of workers is falling into the trap of "unqualified qualifications". With a professional college degree that is not deep, practical skills are not yet reaching, but they have a mentality of "fearing" doing heavy manual work, they become out of place in a market that is strongly polarized. They are not cheap enough to compete with unskilled labor, but not good enough for businesses to keep them when the sacking storm strikes," Ms. Lan Huong said.
According to Ms. Huong, if they do not drastically "upgrade" themselves or accept to step back to learn a sophisticated profession, the group of workers without qualifications or with "mediocre" qualifications will forever be "strangers" right in the city where they make a living. They are very easily replaced by a dynamic intern or a cheap automatic software.
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