More than 200,000 Workers Face Job Losses as Orders Decline

During the second quarter, a total of 217,800 workers were laid off in industries such as textiles, garments, footwear, woodwork, and electronic components due to a significant decrease in orders. The majority of these job losses occurred in regions with numerous industrial parks and export processing zones, including Binh Duong Province and Ho Chi Minh City in the south, as well as Bac Ninh Province in the north, as reported by the General Statistics Office. Specifically, the textile and garment sector experienced a decrease of 142,500 workers, while the wood processing and electronics sectors saw reductions of 16,900 and 30,200 workers, respectively.

This job loss trend has resulted in a notable shift in labor from the industrial and construction sectors towards services, according to the General Statistics Office. In the second quarter, the number of unemployed individuals of working age reached 1.07 million, resulting in an overall jobless rate of 2.3%. The Mekong Delta and southeastern regions of the country have been particularly affected, exhibiting the highest unemployment rates. In Ho Chi Minh City, the unemployment rate increased to 3.71% compared to the previous quarter, while in Hanoi, the rate decreased to 1.23%.

Labor reports from various regions indicate that the number of furloughed workers in the second quarter decreased by 52,500 to a total of 241,500. The majority of these furloughed workers were employed by foreign-invested enterprises in the leather, footwear, and textile industries, primarily in provinces such as Bac Giang, Binh Duong, Ninh Binh, and Thanh Hoa.

Companies have been grappling with the decline in orders since the fourth quarter of the previous year, leading to the furlough or termination of hundreds of thousands of workers, as highlighted by the statistics office. The challenges in the labor market are expected to persist, partly due to the ongoing decline in global demand.