Not yet "quality"
Mr. Bui Sy Loi - former Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Social Issues (now the Social Committee) - said that by the end of 2025, the rate of trained workers with degrees and certificates will reach 29.2%, reaching the target set at 29-29.5% in Resolution No. 01 and Resolution No. 154 on labor market development. However, in reality, whether trained people can meet the actual work and requirements of each business and unit well is another story.
Notably, among young people, unemployment and unemployment are still high. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the unemployment rate of young people aged 15-24 reached 9.04%, nearly 4 times higher than the general rate (2.22%). The whole country has up to 1.4 million young people unemployed and not participating in education and training.
Sharing concerns about the labor market not being "quality" enough, especially among young people, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong - former Director of the Institute of Labor Science and Social Affairs - said that the quality of young Vietnamese labor is currently facing a major contradiction between "quantity" and "quality": Abundant, creative and quickly adapting to technology, but lacking professional skills, soft skills and industrial style. This situation leads to a shortage of highly qualified human resources, while there is still an unstable surplus of unskilled labor.
Ms. Lan Huong pointed out the main shortcomings of young labor quality: Lack of professional skills and craftsmanship; weak soft skills (especially digital skills) and industrial style; disparity between training and practical needs.
Reality shows that, also because of quality shortcomings, young workers face many difficulties when entering the job market, including trained workers and unskilled workers.
Graduating from a college majoring in marketing, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thoa (Chuong My ward, Hanoi) had to carry a resume to apply for a job 7 times in the past 3 years. The reason, according to Ms. Thoa, is that when the company has a need to cut staff or rearrange positions, she is always in the group of the first to be fired. Born in 2003, going to work and falling into the "refrain" of unemployment, Ms. Thoa said she always felt unfinished because her studies had not arrived, her job was precarious and she did not dare to think about getting married.
Need drastic steps
Mr. Le Quang Trung - former Deputy Director of the Department of Employment - said that if there are no drastic steps, we will face a generation of "unsafe workers" right in the country: No savings, no skills and nowhere to go when old age comes.
Besides, it is time to stop the mindset of considering unskilled labor as an endless resource and young labor newly entering the market as cheap.
Young human resources, especially quality young labor, are the core labor force and creative subjects of the future... Therefore, developing a high-quality young labor force is a key strategy to promote the digital economy, high technology and sustainable development in the new period" - Mr. Trung said.
Mr. Trung emphasized the requirements in training digital skills, green economy, renewable energy, adaptability to technological changes, soft skills, improving innovative thinking, closely linking schools - businesses with the 3-together motto: Joint enrollment, joint training and joint use after training is very important.
In addition, training and supplying young human resources in key fields such as information technology, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, biotechnology, digital finance... are even more urgent "supply" sources to meet the development of the country in the new period.
According to Mr. Trung, along with perfecting the system of policies and laws, we need to have a program to develop high-quality young workers with specific goals for each stage; specific activities to target each target group; attracting, treating appropriately, honoring and using high-quality young workers; building and implementing a set of tools to evaluate and discover the abilities and strengths of each person to orient and advise on training and employment.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong proposed a "living scholarship" policy: Urban authorities in areas with a large concentration of young workers allocate budgets or mobilize socialization to directly support tuition and living expenses for freelance workers to learn a trade, instead of short-term allowances. Vocational training is currently heavily burdened with degrees, so short-term courses of 3-6 months should be designed, studying in the evening or on weekends, focusing on practical skills such as operating machines, smart electricity, logistics.
Mr. Vu Quang Thanh - Deputy Director in charge of the Hanoi Employment Service Center - proposed closely linking the "output" of training with businesses and switching to the "order" training model.
Businesses in industrial parks lack high-tech personnel, while young workers are unemployed or work at low incomes. The State needs to stand out as a "bridge", encouraging businesses to retrain existing workers instead of firing them when they are outdated" - Mr. Thanh said.
