The country in numbers – November 2019
39 homeless families in the city of 8.9 million people according to a recent census, but the poll’s definition of ‘homelessness’ has been called into question. the southern Vietnamese metropolis was home to over 2.5 million households as of April 2019, said Vo Thanh Sang, deputy director of the municipal statistics office. Only 39 of them, or less than 0.002 percent, were without a home, according to the census results.
Many have questioned the accuracy of such findings, as the staggeringly low number of homeless families seems too good to be true, as real estate is among the priciest in Vietnam. “We needed to adhere to unified criteria from the Ministry of Construction and the General Statistics Office in defining who is considered homeless and who isn’t,” Vo Thanh Sang, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City statistics office, told Tuoi Tre newspaper in an exclusive interview.
“Homeless family units were defined [by the census] as those who lived in tents, camps or on the sidewalks,” Sang explained. The only homeless family units in Ho Chi Minh City were found in District 1, District 4, and Can Gio District, the official added. “Those who resided under stairs, for example, but had partition walls and doors to separate their living space from the surrounding were not considered homeless.” More results of the 2019 census are expected to be announced later this year, while printed publications offering more in-depth analysis of the data will become available in 2020, the official added.
280,084 people have received unemployment allowance so far this year, and more than 13,600 people were supported with vocational training. The support was offered by the Vietnam Social Insurance, in co-ordination with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA). Expenses for the work totaled VND4.3 trillion from the unemployment insurance fund. More than 4.6 million people enjoyed unemployment allowance and more than 177,400 people were supported with vocational training. Le Quang Trung, deputy director of the Department of Employment under MOLISA, said unemployment insurance was a good measure in case workers met misfortunes related to their jobs. Unemployed people wanting to enjoy the allowance can send their documents to provincial and municipal labor, invalids and social affairs departments, he said.
USD 20,000 VIP air charter service that provides private jets to customers for an hourly rate has been launched by vietnam’s vietstar airlines, with a one- way flight between ho chi minh city and hanoi. Vietstar operates a three-jet fleet that includes a King Air B350, an Embraer Legacy 600, and an Embraer Legacy 650, an airline representative told Tuoi Tre newspaper. Customers will be charged an hourly rate, starting from VND80 million per hour for the King Air jet and up to VND230 million per hour for the Legacy planes, taxes and fees included.
“We also offer air charter services to international destinations within an eight-hour range [from Vietnam],” the representative said. International flights are subject to surcharges depending on the policy and overflight fees applicable in each foreign airspace. Private guides and chauffeurs for a private car upon arrival are available for an additional cost, the Vietstar representative said. Vietstar Airlines was formed in 2010 under a joint venture between military-owned A41 Aircraft Repairing Company, Vietstar Airlines JSC, and Tin Thanh Express JSC.
~ 100,000 bachelor’s degree graduates cannot find jobs, according to the latest labor bulletin. The figure was higher, 142,300, in the first quarter of 2018. In the last few years, the number of workers with higher education level who stayed jobless has been decreasing, but the decreases were insignificant. This is the group with the highest number of jobless workers
Tran Xuan Nhi, former Deputy Minister of Education and Training, commented that the unemployment of bachelor’s degree graduates is a waste of time for youth. Tens of thousands of young people finishing vocational schools can find good jobs with satisfactory salaries. However, in many localities, people still want to go to university. More and more universities have been opened to satisfy the thirst of young people for higher education. The universities receive students with very weak learning capability. In the 2019 enrollment season, some schools announced they had accepted students with just 13-14/30 scores from the national high school finals. The quality of higher education is questionable and the high unemployment rate of bachelor’s degree graduates is not a surprise.
