COVID-19 causes soaring unemployment in Laos
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused Laos’ unemployment rate to soar, with more than 400,000 people either losing their jobs or not finding new ones, according to the Lao Federation of Trade Unions (LFTU).
People wear masks amid COVID-19 epidemic in Vientiane. (Photo: VNA)Speaking at a press conference on an employment promotion event, Chanphen Maniseng from the LFTU said the pandemic-induced closure of factories and workshops has reduced the scale of production, negatively affected the labour force, and increased the unemployment rate in the Southeast Asian country.
Despite the Lao Government's efforts to ease COVID-19 restrictions, many business activities in the country are yet to be fully recovered, pushing the nation’s unemployment rate to increase from 9.24 percent to 21.8 percent in 2021. The pandemic has caused 439,082 Lao workers at home and abroad to lose their jobs or stop working.
The government aims to reduce the unemployment rate to 19.4 percent in 2022 via supporting business recovery, skill training, and new job arrangement./.
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