In the third quarter of 2009, only about 11,200 workers were unemployed, a reduction of 83 percent compared to the first quarter, reported the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs.

Hanoi had few newly unemployed workers in this period compared to over 13,000 in the first quarter of 2009. Hai Phong has experienced similar conditions compared with the over 4000 workers fired in the first three months of 2009.

Approximately 3000 people in Hanoi became jobless in this period. The figure is more than 1000 each in Ha Tinh, Thanh Hoa and Nam Dinh. Unemployment is mainly reported at foreign-invested firms, which produce leather and footwear, garments, seacooking processing, automobiles, the electric and electronics industry and wood processing plants.

MoLISA predicts that, along with the Government’s stimulus package, the number of jobless workers will continue to decrease through December. The need for workers is expected to escalate in the last three months of 2009, with 20,000 needed in Binh Duong, 8700 for Long An and 7000 throughout Long An province.

Craft villages and rural cooperatives are enduring hard times. By the end of September, more than 40,000 workers lost their jobs. In addition, over 100,000 others only have part-time work.

The market for highly skilled workers appears to be recovering gradually. According to Vietnamworks.com, the largest online recruiter in Vietnam, the demand for highly quality labour in the third quarter grew by 11.4 percent compared to the second quarter and is up 52.4 percent compared with the first quarter of 2009.

The top five jobs in the third quarter include salesmen, accountants, engineers, secretaries and IT-software experts.

The third quarter has also witnessed a new trend of recruiting foreigners for management positions. During the economic crisis, foreigners and overseas Vietnamese have flocked to Vietnam seeking employment and creating a to seek job, creating a new fad of “recruiting international personnel at local rates.”

VietNamNet/VNE