In the first quarter of this year, more than 162,000 university graduates in Vietnam failed to find jobs, an increase of 4,000 people from the fourth quarter of 2013. The figure is equivalent to 4.14 percent of the total number of university graduates and postgraduates in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, demand for workers is seeing strong growth, despite the fact that Vietnam is still a recovering economy. Demand has seen the strongest growth for experienced team leaders, supervisors, managers and directors, while demand for new graduates has remained low. Many companies have not found it easy to recruit mid-level and senior staff, which is due to a low supply of these types of workers. Additionally, many Vietnamese labourers tend to lack necessary skills such as language, cognitive, behavioural and technical skills.

In another aspect, businesses in Vietnam is also seeking for high-quality workforce, those who are not necessarily highly-educated, but are skilled, responsible and ethical. But even in this area, there is still a poor supply of labours who meet those requirement from the vocational sector.
Reasoning for this high unemployment rate as well as shortage of high-skilled workers, the Minister of Education and Training admitted its loose management of schools and outdated curricula as the main cause. “The ministry, universities and colleges take primary responsibility for this situation’, he said. The ministry has focused for a long time on schools size without paying due attention to the quality of education. Curriculums have not yet kept pace with domestic and international development. They have also failed to provide adequate soft skills training, particularly in terms of helping local students socialize and work in teams.

Another problem lies in the fact that in many major businesses, the supply and demand for workers is not matching up. This is due to weak career guidance activities for Vietnamese students, especially at the time when they graduate from high school and consider subjects to study at university level.

According the most recent human resource report by HR Insider – VietnamWorks, one of the leading HR firm in Vietnam, ten fields which have highest human resource demand in the first quarter of the year include IT and software, Administration, Accounting, Production, Customer Service, Marketing, Sales, Advertising/Promotion/Public Relations, Construction and Import-Export. Among of these, severe shortage of labours lie in Accounting, Import-Export and Education management.

The recent national university entrance exam has also partly reflected how Vietnamese students respond to the labour market trends. Subjects which require a high standard mark for student admission include Media and Public Relations, Law, Psychology, Foreign Trade and Medicine. According to human resource planning within the Vietnamese law sector, by 2020 this sector will need an additional number of 18,000 lawyers. In the subject of medicine, a bachelor programme in nutrition has been attracting an increasing number of students. In some recent years, Vietnam has received a lot of support and investment from Japan in the nutrition sector, which promises a high potential for employment for students after graduation. However, despite prior warning from the Ministry of Education about high redundancy in business, banking and economics sectors, there is still a large number of students applying for these subjects at universities in this school year.

Read further:
1. Foreign companies report labour and skills shortage in Vietnam
2. Vietnamese business seek honest, uneducated workers: survey
3. Vietnam reports 162,000 unemployed university graduates
4. Educational minister accepts responsibility for unemployed graduates

Additional comments:
Employability prospects are always among the top concerns of Vietnamese students when considering where and what to study. The current high unemployment situation has made this factor more critical than ever. A course that promises students with a diploma degree is not enough now. How the course will equip students with necessary skills required by employers or whether the course provides internship opportunities for students to gain working experience and practical knowledge; or evidence of how successful an institution has been doing in ensuring employability benefits for its students…these are the important factors in attracting students. UK institutions might need to take into account these factors when promoting their courses to Vietnamese students.