The inertia of 40 and the fierce labor purge of the digital age

Many years of accumulated experience is no longer a safe "shield

Mr. Tran The Dung (44 years old, Thuong Tin commune, Hanoi City) used to work as a construction supervisor for nearly 20 years. After many years of frequent travel, working at high intensity and under pressure for progress, Mr. Dung decided to return to his hometown to open a bicycle business store.

According to Mr. Dung, the decision to change careers is not because he no longer loves his old job, but because he wants to spend more time with his family; more importantly, he feels that he no longer has enough health to handle the job when entering middle age.

I realize that the older I get, the harder it is to follow long-term projects, often going early and returning late. If I keep clinging to the profession, the income may be higher, but my health will decline very quickly," Mr. Dung shared.

To switch to a new job, Mr. Dung said that he constantly learns. He proactively learns about sales skills, customer care, product promotion on social networks and updates knowledge about bicycle repair and maintenance to meet customer needs.

Changing careers does not mean starting over from scratch. Skills such as job management, situation handling or working with customers accumulated over many years still help me a lot. But if I don't want to study further, it's also difficult to adapt to a new profession," Mr. Dung said.

According to Mr. Dung, the most important thing for workers aged 40-45 is to prepare plans for the future, instead of waiting until they lose their jobs to find a way to manage.

I always think that I must have enough reserve money for my family to spend for a few months if an incident occurs. At the same time, I myself must take care of my health, fully participate in insurance and constantly learn so that if necessary, I can still switch to another job," Mr. Dung said.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa (Son Dong commune, Hanoi) is currently a freelancer in the field of media and content.

Having quit her job and applied for a job again at the age of 40, Ms. Hoa said that the group of workers aged 40-45 is prone to losing their jobs but is the group with the greatest inertia in the organization.

According to Ms. Hoa, workers aged 40-45 have knowledge and practical experience in expertise and professions - which is something young people do not have, especially experience in handling situations/incidents/crises... However, in some professions, with the increasingly deep participation of technology and AI, this monopoly strength is becoming increasingly fragile.

Having worked in communication and corporate culture development for many years, Ms. Hoa realized that, from the perspective of a business owner, instead of keeping a long-term worker with great inertia and high salaries, the business is willing to replace them with a young, dynamic worker, only needing to pay a salary equal to half, even 1/3.

Workers over 40 years old must actively "refresh" themselves

According to Mr. Nguyen Vinh Truong, Head of Labor Market Forecast Analysis Department - Hanoi Employment Service Center, in just the first 6 months of 2026, in Hanoi City, workers receiving unemployment benefits from 40 years old and over accounted for 32.54%, this figure in the same period of 2025 was 27.83%.

Mr. Vu Quang Thanh - Deputy Director of the Hanoi Employment Service Center, said that the data for the first 6 months of the year shows that workers over 40 years old account for 32.54% of the total number of unemployment benefits in Hanoi, which is a reality worth considering, clearly reflecting the increasing risk of job loss among middle-aged workers in large urban areas.

The core reason comes from the fact that many businesses today tend to prioritize recruiting young personnel - a force with flexibility, quick adaptation to new technologies and more optimal labor costs. Workers over 40 often face many psychological barriers of being reluctant to change, limitations in updating digital skills as well as expectations about salaries or benefits that are difficult to adapt immediately to the current market level," Mr. Thanh said.

According to Mr. Thanh, the Hanoi Employment Service Center is promoting thematic job transaction sessions, strengthening labor supply and demand connections and career reorientation counseling for middle-aged workers.

We recommend that workers over 40 years old need to actively "refresh" themselves, equip themselves with more supporting skills and be ready to accept new, more flexible job positions," Mr. Thanh recommended.

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