Growth ≠ equal absorption. Vietnam's ICT sector grew 950k → 1.23M workers (+29% in 4 years), yet 33.5% work informally — no unemployment insurance when laid off.

Youth unemployment at 7.56% is 5× the headline rate of 1.43%, reflecting skill mismatch and uneven labour absorption across market segments.

References

General Statistics Office of Vietnam. (2023). Labour force survey 2023. GSO. https://www.gso.gov.vn
International Labour Organization. (2023). Global wage report 2022–23. ILO. https://www.ilo.org
International Labour Organization. (2023). Informality statistics. ILOSTAT. https://ilostat.ilo.org
Layoffs.fyi. (2024). Tech layoff tracker. https://layoffs.fyi
Ministry of Information & Communications Vietnam. (2023). Vietnam ICT White Book 2023. MIC. https://mic.gov.vn
Stack Overflow. (2023). Developer survey 2023. https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2023
World Bank. (2024). Unemployment, total — SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS [Data set]. World Development Indicators. https://databank.worldbank.org

Vietnam

Low costs create short-term outsourcing advantages, but 33.5% informal labour reduces resilience when global layoffs hit. Priority: upskill ICT workforce + extend social insurance to gig workers.

Australia

IT wages 12.5× higher than Vietnam are the primary driver of the 2022–2024 layoff wave. Nearshoring to ASEAN is predictable — but cannot replace senior domestic talent.

Policy Implications

ICT growth ≠ sustainable growth if most workers lack protection. The low headline rate (1.43%) masks the structural vulnerability of Vietnam's gig economy.