Vietnam’s job growth meets a persistent formal-employment gap

By Tom Whitfield

What does the national labor market show?

Vietnam’s unemployment rate held at 2.22% in the first nine months of 2026, according to the General Statistics Office of the Ministry of Finance, even as employment and income rose.

The labor force aged 15 and over reached 53.8 million. It increased by 697,000 from the same period in 2025. Employment rose by nearly 684,000, reaching 52.7 million. Underemployment fell to 1.53%.

Average worker income reached VND 9.1 million per month, up 9.1% year on year. Expanded production, business activity and sustained industry and services growth supported the gains.

The published figures provide no survey sample size or revision schedule.

Takeaway: Job demand strengthened, with low unemployment and rising income at the national level.

Which sectors absorbed the workers?

• Agriculture, forestry and fisheries shed 147,700 workers year on year.
• Industry and construction added 447,400 workers.
• Services added 384,100 workers.

Services remained the largest employer, with about 21.6 million people, or 41% of employment. Industry and construction accounted for 33.8%. Agriculture represented about 25.2%.

Employment in what the GSO calls core digital economic sectors reached about 1.6 million, or 3.02% of total employment. Trained workers with degrees and certificates made up 29.9% of the workforce, up 0.8 percentage points from a year earlier.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai, Acting Head of the GSO’s Population and Labor Statistics Department, said: “This trend shows that labor is continuing to shift from sectors with low labor productivity to those with higher productivity.” She said the shift improves human-resource efficiency and promotes economic growth.

For individual jobseekers, hiring gains clustered in industry, construction and services rather than agriculture. A sectoral move, however, does not guarantee better job quality.

Takeaway: Vietnam’s workers are moving toward more productive sectors, but the destination alone does not determine job security.

Does sector growth improve job quality?

Informal employment remained widespread, limiting job stability and access to protections and social security.

About 32.4 million workers were informally employed in the first nine months of 2026. That was 61.5% of total employment, down 2 percentage points from the same period in 2025.

The third-quarter informal employment rate was 41.9% in industry and construction, 52.7% in services, and 98.7% in agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

Prime Minister Le Minh Hung set the policy standard. He said: “Every worker has the right to work in a safe environment, to live in a civilized and healthy community, and to be protected from emerging risks.” He described these rights as a prerequisite for productivity, production and business efficiency, and for growth quality.

Job quality must be judged through stability, income, working conditions and access to social security. The long-term goal is formal, sustainable employment, not simply more workers in industry and services.

Takeaway: Formal protection remains the central weakness in a labor market that otherwise improved.

What does the data mean for young jobseekers?

Youth unemployment, ages 15 to 24, was 8.87% in the first nine months of 2026. In the third quarter, about 1.6 million young people were unemployed and not participating in education or training. They represented 11.2% of the youth population, up 195,100 from the previous quarter.

For new entrants, that gap matters more than the 2.22% national rate. Core digital employment represented only 3.02% of the workforce, although the GSO treats its expansion as a source of new opportunities.

Takeaway: Young jobseekers face a much tighter market than the headline employment figures imply.

What must change through 2030?

The government says productivity growth cannot rely on labor mobility alone. It must also come from technological innovation, professional skill development and better working conditions.

Le Minh Hung said high growth must improve people’s material and spiritual lives while ensuring social justice. Employment policy must extend beyond stable jobs and higher incomes to safe workplaces, rental housing, schools, kindergartens, healthcare, culture and sports, especially in production centers and concentrated industrial zones.

On August 30, 2026, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 1685/QD-TTg. It implements Conclusion No. 62-KL/TW for 2026-2030 and links labor-market development to productivity, vocational training, movement into high-productivity sectors, a completed labor and employment database, stronger job matching, sustainable employment and social security.

The National Job Exchange and the database should improve workers’ access to information, help employers find suitable staff and widen career choices. Officials expect the movement out of agriculture to continue, but define success by work quality, income, productivity and social security rather than headcount alone.

Takeaway: Through 2030, Vietnam must turn sectoral movement into secure, higher-value work to make the labor shift pay off.