The newly issued report on labor and employment by the Statistics Office shows that the whole country currently has more than 1.6 million unemployed young people who do not study to improve their qualifications.
Previously, in the report on the labor and employment situation in the second quarter and the first 6 months of 2025, the unemployment rate among young people aged 15-24 in the second quarter of 2025 was 8.19%. The unemployment rate of young people in urban areas is 10.23%, 3.17 percentage points higher than in rural areas. In the second quarter, the whole country had about 1.35 million young people aged 15-24 who were unemployed and did not participate in studying and training. In the third quarter, this figure reached 1.6 million.
According to Mr. Vu Quang Thanh, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Employment Service Center, there are many reasons why young workers have difficulty finding jobs in the current labor market.
Most of the young graduates lack practical work experience in the industry or position they are interested in while businesses want to recruit candidates with work experience. In Hanoi, up to 50% of the vacant positions in August and September required workers to have 2 years or more of experience.
In addition, young workers are also facing competition from experienced and skilled workers. Not to mention, many businesses have high requirements for degrees and certificates. This is a barrier for young workers who have just graduated or do not have the conditions to study or are not skilled.
Sharing the same view, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong - former Director of the Institute of Social Labor Science analyzed that the main reason why many young people find it difficult to ask for, or even cannot find a job is lack of qualifications and skills.
Many people who are retrained are only theoretical and have never participated in internships; the group of people who are not trained and do not have any professional qualifications makes job opportunities increasingly difficult. Not to mention, for both groups, soft skills such as communication, teamwork, critical thinking... are still very limited, said Ms. Huong.
According to Ms. Huong, many young workers lack a clear career orientation, and when unemployed, many people do not have the awareness of learning, improving their skills and qualifications to soon join the labor market. This is an unnecessary waste, Ms. Huong emphasized.
Mr. Le Quang Trung - former Deputy Director in charge of the Department of Employment said that the authorities need to immediately organize an assessment and analysis of the causes of 1.6 million unemployed workers in the third quarter of 2025 and to help them find jobs, it is necessary to survey each specific group of subjects.
We must clearly understand groups of workers, such as those who have been trained and untrained, rural groups, urban groups, gender workers, long-term unemployment groups, etc. to have solutions, said Mr. Trung.
According to Mr. Trung, digital transformation makes the labor market more complex, requiring technological skills and high adaptability. Unskilled workers, if they do not mind the hardship of studying and being trained to improve their qualifications, will be the ones who are easily "exposed" from the labor market. Skilled workers, if not regularly trained to improve their skills and knowledge, will not be able to maintain sustainable jobs.
The biggest challenge is probably the ability of workers, especially young workers, to change their careers, which is still weak due to limited labor market information. At the same time, their skills and qualifications do not meet the changes in the job structure," said Mr. Trung.
According to Mr. Vu Quang Thanh, the unemployment rate among unskilled workers currently accounts for nearly 60% of the entire labor market.
The pressure is increasing on the group of unskilled workers, forcing them to recalculate the plan to re-enter the labor market. They need vocational training counseling, even converting to other careers to suit the new context.
