Unemployment rate (annual) in Vietnam

Measures the share of Vietnam's labour force that is unemployed but available for and actively seeking work. Published by the General Statistics Office (GSO) and the benchmark gauge of the country's labour market.

Derived from the GSO's household Labour Force Survey following ILO criteria. It is the ratio of the unemployed to the labour force, in per cent, with particular attention paid to the urban rate.

In an export-driven manufacturing economy like Vietnam's, the jobless rate signals the strength of global demand for its factories and of domestic consumption. A low reading confirms buoyant industrial hiring, while a rise would flag weaker exports, a factor the State Bank of Vietnam weighs in its policy.

The high share of informal and agricultural work keeps the official rate structurally low and makes it a poor gauge of underemployment. It is subject to seasonality, sampling error and revisions, and captures little of the hours adjustments in the export sector.