Unemployment - new pressure for the labor market

Enterprises narrow production, labor is directly affected

Mr. Dam Quang Duc - a worker at a company specializing in plastic production in the craft village cluster of Phuong Liet ward (Hanoi) said that from August 2025, his income will decrease by 20-30% per month because the company does not have many orders. In the first months of 2025, Mr. Duc had a total income of about 13 million VND/month; by December 2025, he received more than 9 million VND.

Mr. Duc said that after working as a worker at the company for nearly 6 years, he has never had as many weekends as in the last months of 2025.

"On days when I don't go to work, I don't dare leave my rented room, because I know that when I leave home, I spend money...", Mr. Duc said.

These days, Ms. Bui Phuong Lan - Director of Thanh Lan Fine Arts Export Company (Ngoc Hoi Commune, Hanoi) is also restless because of worries about orders, debt collection and Tet for workers and laborers.

Ms. Lan's company has about 80 people, of which the direct production department is more than 60 people. In the past half year, export orders have decreased, Ms. Lan has struggled to retain workers and not reduce their income.

"Now when there are difficulties, we have to take care of them because it is easy to let workers take a day off, when recruiting, it is extremely difficult because not everyone is used to making these special items," said Ms. Lan.

According to Ms. Lan, since the end of September 2025, her company's workers have been underemployed. Before that, the company gave workers a day off on Saturdays and all day on Sundays. From the beginning of October 2025, workers will have 2 full weekends, with chains and departments taking a day off in the middle of the week because they have no work.

Limitations from workers are a "bottleneck"

Ms. Nguyen Thu Ha - Human Resources Director of Phu Binh Group (Xuan Dinh Ward, Hanoi) analyzed that the unemployment situation has increased, the reason for which is that the workers themselves account for a large proportion.

From the perspective of Phu Binh Group, Ms. Ha commented that while businesses are "thirsty" for high-quality human resources, many workers can only do simple jobs, low income, and unstable working hours.

In addition, the shift in economic structure is happening faster than the speed of improving the skills of the workforce, causing the rate of unemployment to increase, although the total number of people with jobs is still maintained.

Ms. Ha said that a part of the labor force, especially in the middle-aged and rural areas, is slow to adapt to new market requirements. Digital skills, foreign languages and modern machine operation are still weak, making it difficult for them to switch to stable jobs and high income. The fear of change makes many people accept prolonged unemployment instead of learning a new job or changing jobs. Some young workers, despite their limited qualifications, have high expectations for salaries and working conditions, leading to a lack of jobs when they do not achieve their desires.

From the perspective of a unit connecting labor supply and demand, Mr. Vu Quang Thanh, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Employment Service Center, said that the lack of labor market information is also a weakness of workers. Many people do not have access to official recruitment information, do not know which industry needs people, which areas have needs, so it is difficult to make appropriate relocation decisions.

According to Mr. Thanh, the increase in the unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2025 is an early warning signal for labor and employment policies. Without timely solutions, a prolonged lack of employment can lead to reduced income, reduced quality of life, increased labor leaving the social insurance system and put pressure on social security in the medium term.

Mr. Thanh said that businesses need to consider investing in labor skills as a long-term solution, in addition to adjusting production, instead of just cutting down on working hours to cope with the short term. For workers, accepting to retake the course, take extra classes, change careers or change jobs is no longer an option, but a necessary condition to avoid falling into the "grey area" of prolonged unemployment.

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