Five million workers, 84.8% of companies affected by COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam: GSO

The General Statistics Office (GSO) of Vietnam said on Friday an estimated five million workers and nearly 85 percent of companies in the country were negatively affected by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the first quarter of 2020.

Turbulence was observed in the Vietnamese labor market in Q1 2020 and the first 4 months of 2020, said Vu Thi Thu Thuy from the Population and Labor Statistics Department under GSO.

The employment rate plummeted to a five-year low due to the impacts of COVID-19 which started in January, she said.

Q1 2020 saw the total unemployment count reaching 1.1 million, a rise of 26,000 or 2.2 percent year-on-year.

There were 55.3 million people aged 15 and above in Vietnam during the same period.

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