What changes or improvements has the labor market in Vietnam made? At the recent Innovature BPO’s Webinar – “Accounting and Finance Outsourcing in the era of business transformation”, we had an exclusive interview with Trang Tran – Business Development Director of CareerBuilder Vietnam, sharing some key insights on Vietnam’s labor market 2022.
Question: What is your opinion about the scale of the labor market in Vietnam in 2022? How many fresh graduates enter the market in recent years?
Trang Tran: Thank you for such an interesting question. According to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam in 2022, the labor force aged 15 and above in Q2/2022 was 51.6 million people, an increase of more than 0.4 million people compared to Q1/2022, and an increase by nearly 0.6 million people over the same period last year.
Among them, over 51% are between 15-39 years old, of which the age group between 15-29 years old accounts for 26.7%, and the age group between 15-24 years old accounts for nearly 15%. This group is from 15 – 24 years old that has the potential of acquiring new knowledge and skills to improve the quality of labor workforce and productivity in Vietnam.
Labor force by quarter, 2020-2022
Source: CareerBuilder Vietnam
In addition, the data also shows that the percentage of trained workers with college and bachelor’s degrees in Q1/2022 is 26.1%. In Q2/2022, it is 26.2% which is 0.1 per cent higher than the previous quarter and the same period last year. For a better overview, please have a look at the charts below.
Percentage of trained workers with College and Bachelor’s Degrees by quarter, 2020 – 2022
Source: CareerBuilder Vietnam
Question: How is the trend of English skills and Computer proficiency of Vietnamese talent?
Trang Tran: Indeed, the labor market and job recruitment during post-pandemic have gradually become more exciting than ever – the door is widely opened for all candidates. According to a Careerbuilder survey, more than 50% of candidates reached the advanced level of English skills. The percentages of advanced and native levels are growing year by year.
Candidate’s English skills by proficiency level
Source: CareerBuilder Vietnam
There is also a positive change in Computer proficiency. The percentages of advanced level defined as level 4-5 have always been growing by more than 50% in the past 3 years. The definition of levels is based on self-assessment of computer and office skills, not classified per which operating system used by candidates.
Candidate’s Office Computer skills by proficiency level
Source: CareerBuilder Vietnam
Question: What are the strengths of Vietnam’s talent pool when compared to the labor workforces of other countries in the same region?
Trang Tran: According to the Global Innovation Index 2021 (GII 2020), Vietnam continues to maintain its high ranking, Vietnam is leading among 34 low-middle-income countries and was ranked 10th in 17 countries in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Oceania.
This reflects positively on the strength of applying science and technology of the Vietnamese workforce compared to other countries in the region, especially in science and technology innovation to create high-value hi-tech products, as well as taking on most of the complex jobs in production and business that were previously taken by foreign experts.
In addition, another competitive advantage of the Vietnamese workforce comes from the high-tech workforce in the field of software business process outsourcing, Vietnam is currently in the Top 5 most attractive destinations for IT Outsourcing Services (According to AT Kearney), while Gartner rated Vietnam as a top IT outsourcing destination in Asia-Pacific. Vietnam also ranks 9th in the Top 10 Digital Countries (According to Tholons).
Read more for detailed analysis» [Webinar Report] Accounting and Finance Outsourcing in the era of business transformation
