Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam saw a year-on-yearfall in the number of workers joining the labour market in the first quarter butincreases in average income, according to Pham Hoai Nam, Director of the Population and Labour Statistics Department atthe General Statistics Office (GSO).
Nam said that workers' average monthlyincome in the first quarter stood at 6.3 million VND (273 USD), up 339,000 VNDcompared to the fourth quarter of 2020 and 106,000 VND year-on-year.
On an annual basis, the agro-forestry-fisheriessector recorded the highest rise in average income, 5.2 percent, followedby the service sector with 1.5 percent and industry-construction 0.8 percent.
In particular, the income of those with employment contract increased 556,000 VND comparedto the fourth quarter of last year and 132,000 VND over the same time in 2020to 7.2 million VND per month.
According to Nam, the returnof COVID-19 before the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday changed normal growth trendsin the first quarter, with a fall of nearly 200,000 workers in the workforcecompared to the same time last year and about 600,000 over the same time of2019.
The proportion of workers joining the labour market was 66.7 percent in urban areas and 69.9 percent in ruralareas.
The GSO reported that among49.9 million employees, 39.5 percent (or 19.7 million) were employed in theservice sector, 32.3 percent (16.1 million) in the industry-constructionsector, and 28.2 percent (14.1 million) in the agro-forestry-fisheries sector.
In the first quarter, 57.1percent of the workforce, or 20.7 million workers, were employed in the informalsector, down 251,700 over the fourth quarter of 2020 but up 525,400 over the same period last year, it said./.
VNA
