Illustrative photo. (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The number of recipients ofunemployment benefits nationwide rose by 9.11 percent to 378,000 people duringthe first quarter of 2020 as a large amount of businesses have been forced tosuspend operation or go bankrupt by the wide-spreading novel coronavirusdisease (COVID-19).
According to Do Ngoc Tho, an official from the VietnamSocial Security (VSS), close to 2.12 trillion VND (91 million USD) have beenpaid in unemployment allowances from January to March.
About 18 billion VND has been spent to financially support8,160 people unemployed to pursue vocational training, a 10.1 percent increasefrom the same period last year.
The pandemic is taking toll, directly or indirectly, onvarious sectors, such as tourism, services, transportation, retail, textileand garment, foreign trade, investment, and finance-banking, among others.
The shrinking production and shutdown of services haveresulted in significant job cuts. So unemployment insurance is playing acrucial part in providing relief for affected workers and their families and maintainingsocial and economic stability.
The Vietnamese Law on Employment stipulates that theunemployed are subject to a monthly allowance that equals 60 percent of theiraverage monthly wage of six consecutive months before they become unemployed onwhich unemployment insurance premiums are based.
The duration of the unemployment allowance receipt is basedon the number of months of payment of unemployment insurance premiums but mustnot exceed 12 months, according to the law.
At the same time, the unemployed would be provided with freejob counseling and recommendations.
Meanwhile, employers may receive financial aid in organizingtraining courses to improve occupational skills of their workers./.
VNA
