Employed workers were 18.7 million people in urban areas (an increase of 127.9 thousand people or 0.7 per cent quarter on quarter and an increase of 673.7 thousand people or 3.7 per cent year on year), and 31.9 million people in rural areas (an increase of 376.6 thousand people or 1.2 per cent quarter on quarter and an increase of 27.9 thousand people or 0.1 per cent year on year).

The increasing trend of employed workers was also observed for both women and men, although the growth rate of employed workers was higher among former than latter.

The number of statutory working-age employed workers in the second quarter of 2022 reached nearly 45.0 million people, an increase of 856.0 thousand people (equivalent to an increase of 1.9 per cent compared to the previous quarter) and an increase of 1.0 million people (or an increase of 2.3 per cent over the same period last year.

The growth rate of statutory working-age employed workers was higher than the overall growth rate of employed workers aged 15 and older, which shows very encouraging signs of the labour market.

Compared to the previous quarter, the numbers of employed workers in statutory working age increased in most socio-economic regions. Of all regions, Northern Midlands and Mountains recorded the highest increase (increasing by 379.4 thousand people or 7.5 per cent), followed by the Red River Delta (increasing by 222.9 thousand people or 2.3 per cent), Southeast (increasing by 155.1 thousand people or 1.6 per cent).

The labour market continued its strong growth momentum of the previous quarter. The flexible approach to preventing the pandemic, the policy of completely opening up tourism activities, and the Socio-Economic Recovery and Development Programme under Resolution No. 11/NQ-CP dated January 30, 2022 are all the main drivers that brighten the picture of Viet Nam’s labour market in the second quarter of 2022.

In the second quarter of 2022, the number of informally employed workers was 21.4 million, an increase of 54.5 thousand people compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 499.0 thousand people over the same period last year.

The number of informally employed workers in this quarter was 17.1 million people, an increase of 449.3 thousand people compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 1.6 million people compared to the same period last year.

Compared to both the previous quarter and the same period last year, the number of employed workers in the formal sector increased much more than those in the informal sector. This suggests that the labour market has recovered in a sustainable manner.

The prevalence of non-AFF informal employment in the second quarter of 2022 was 55.6 per cent, down 0.6 percentage points compared to the previous quarter and down 1.8 percentage points over the same period last year.

The urban informal employment prevalence was 47.5 per cent, down 0.6 percentage points from the previous quarter and down 1.1 percentage points from the same period last year, where the rural informal employment prevalence was 62.3 per cent, down 0.6 percentage points compared to the previous quarter and down 2.4 percentage points over the same period last year./.