Difficult job application due to "overage
For half a year now, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu (from Nam Dong commune, Ninh Binh) has come to the Hanoi Employment Service Center dozens of times to find a job but has still not received any.
Losing her job in July 2025 at the age of 38 while working as an employee at a stationery store in Ha Dong ward (Hanoi), Ms. Thu struggled to find new jobs and survived by working as a sales collaborator.
The whole family depends on my husband's salary of 13 million VND/month. My daughter is in middle school this year, schooling will be more expensive. I have not been able to get a job once, I am like a fire burning that day. The income from working as a sales collaborator is very precarious, I earn about 6 million VND a good month, a few million VND a bad month, not enough to pay for food for 3 mouths to eat," Ms. Thu complained.
According to Ms. Thu, she used to study accounting, then went to work with sales experience, but when she found a job and applied, she was "criticized" for being "agey". Ms. Thu said that companies are willing to recruit young personnel for further training because this group is agile, standard qualifications and has many strengths and skills that the group of workers at her age would never have.
The closer to Tet, the more job opportunities in recruitment sessions are "condensed", so Ms. Thu does not have much hope. "For the past half month, I have not worked as a sales collaborator but have been cleaning houses and cleaning for households by the hour, with much higher income. However, the work is hard, so every night I have a sore body, afraid of not being able to stay long," Ms. Thu said.
According to representatives of the Hanoi Employment Service Center, records at the central job exchange and satellite exchanges show that the number of middle-aged workers looking for jobs is increasing. Many people who used to be managers, technical workers, office workers... now have to accept applying for lower positions with lower incomes. However, opportunities are still very limited.
Many businesses currently prioritize recruiting young workers because they are easy to train, easy to adapt to the digital environment and low labor costs. In recruitment notices, many places implicitly set a limit of under 30 or 35 years old. This makes workers over 35 years old, even with experience, still eliminated from the application round. Many workers send dozens of applications but do not receive feedback or are rejected bluntly when they know their real age," said a representative of the Hanoi Employment Service Center.
Switching to temporary work for a living
When they cannot find a formal job, many 35-45 year old workers are forced to switch to freelance, seasonal jobs such as driving technology cars, delivering goods, small business, day-to-day hired work. These jobs help them have immediate income, but are often precarious, unstable and lack social security.
Income depends on health and working hours, while living expenses and family burdens are still very large. Many people who used to have stable incomes now struggle every day, even borrowing to cover living expenses when freelance work is not enough to live on.
Mr. Le Duc Tam (Dong Da ward, Hanoi) used to be an employee of a company specializing in construction. Losing his job in April 2025, struggling for 3 months without finding a new job, Mr. Tam is currently working as a technology motorbike taxi driver.
Income is about 17 million VND/month - not a low level, but I see my health getting worse because I am constantly walking around the streets. On cold days, I reduce work hours, come home early in the evening but still feel numb all over the next morning. I'm 40 years old, it's difficult to find any job, but if I don't go to work, my wife and children will suffer...", Mr. Tam shared.
Mr. Vu Quang Thanh - Deputy Director of Hanoi Employment Service Center - said that the reasons why middle-aged workers find it difficult to find jobs and prolonged unemployment come from many sides. First of all, the digital transformation and automation process in businesses makes many simple labor positions or traditional administrative jobs gradually replaced by technology. In addition, businesses tend to optimize personnel costs, prioritizing young workers with low starting salaries, accepting overtime and rapid adaptation. Middle-aged workers with seniority and family responsibilities are often difficult to compete with.
Another factor is the skill gap. Many middle-aged workers have not had time to update digital skills, foreign languages or new technologies, making them assessed as not suitable for the modern working environment," Mr. Thanh said.
