Vietnam labour market update Q1 2020

HO CHI MINH, Viet Nam - May 19, 2020 - PRLog -- How did COVID-19 hit the Vietnam labour market Q1 2020?

The COVID-19 crisis is posing unparalleled challenges to Vietnamese people and economy. According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), Vietnam's GDP only jumped by 3.82 per cent in the first quarter of this year – the lowest growth rate recorded in the past 10 years. The business community was hard-hit, with 35,000 enterprises shutting down in the first 3 months.

The temporary closure of non-essential services has forced workers in transportation, hospitality, beauty and entertainment services to take unpaid leave or being laid off. The Ministry of Planning and Investment estimated that 250,000 workers lost their jobs this quarter and another 1.5-2 million face a similar threat as the tremendous impact the novel coronavirus pandemic. Most of them are from textile, footwear, restaurant, hotel or tourism industries.

Industries with high recruitment needs in Q1/2020

Pre-Coronavirus outbreak, in January and February, Adecco Vietnam still witnessed a rise in recruitment demand from electronics and manufacturing up to 11% compared to Q1 2019. This is due to the tension between the US and China, firms are gradually shifting their production chains out of China, and Vietnam is considered as a potential manufacturing hub. However, as the outbreak starts taking a toll in our country since March, recruitment demand for the whole market has dropped by approximately 30-40% compared to the previous year. Travel restrictions and lockdown also postpone new job opportunities for expatriates.

Recruitment demand forecast Q2/2020

Q2 will likely see strong comeback in transportation service, supply chain/logistics, consumer goods, agriculture (animal feed especially) and the recovery of F&B businesses when the virus threat is well contained. Recruitment inquiries in FMCG, pharma and B2B sales maintain a similar volume in Q1 and will remain the main drive for employment in Q2.

Technology sector will remain a challenging one as their markets in Europe and America are in slow down mode due to the massive hit of pandemic. It will take a quarter to get back outsourcing need from those countries for outsourcing and service hubs in VN.

Unemployment rate will positively be reduced due to the fact that businesses are back to almost 100% normal working condition. E-commerce will stay as main boost for market consumption taking a larger portion from traditional retail as the awareness of social distancing is recommended.

You can visit https://adecco.com.vn/en/knowledge-center/detail/vietnam-labour-market-q1-2020-update for more details