The country generated around 6.5 million new jobs between 2006-09, representing more than 81 percent of the target set for the 2006-2010 period.

Over 90 percent of the new jobs were created in the non-State economic sector. More than 323,000 people were sent to work abroad over the past four years.

The Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) said that the result has helped reduce the rate of unemployment in urban areas to just above 4.6 percent in 2009, one year ahead of its plan on bringing the rate under 5 percent in 2010.

The national target programme on employment (NTPE) provided over 5.7 trillion VND through the national fund for job promotion to more than 418,000 organisations and individuals to carry out job generation projects from 2006 to 2009.
The NTPE has also spent 161 billion VND on assisting job placement centres and around 3.5 million people got jobs through these centres.

To create a good connection between labour demand and supply, the programme spent 41 billion VND on conducting labour market surveys and building systems of labour market information in 15 provinces and cities.

The economic recovery in 2010 will help generate more new jobs, said Head of MoLISA Employment Department Nguyen Dai Dong. But problems remain in the labour market, in particular quality and the imbalance of labour demand and supply, he added.

According to the official, the MoLISA plans to devise new models and policies on creating jobs for ethnic and rural people and youths this year adn start working on a database on labour market nationwide./.