Vietnam’s booming economy is facing a puzzling paradox: too many university graduates are unable to find suitable jobs, while construction sites struggle to hire skilled manual workers. A survey of 400 ride‑hailing drivers in Ho Chi Minh City by the Institute for Social Life Studies found that 11% have vocational or college qualifications and 12% hold university degrees.

National Statistics Office data show that unemployment among university graduates is several times higher than among workers with intermediate vocational or technical college qualifications. The office reported this pattern for several consecutive quarters.

By the third quarter, 1.6 million young people aged 15‑24 were neither employed nor in education or training. Meanwhile, the CEO of a Ho Chi Minh City construction contractor said his company receives more than 200 applications for an administrative or accounting vacancy in a single morning, but it can take three months to find five crane operators with advanced safety certification or ten experienced welders.

The Vietnam Association of Construction Contractors estimates that the industry needs four million construction workers this year, yet the available workforce can meet only about 25% of that demand. The shortage of skilled workers at construction sites has forced contractors into fierce competition for labour.

The article attributes the mismatch to deep‑seated social prejudice that values office work over manual labour and to the rapid expansion of universities at the expense of vocational schools, which are now seen as “only for those who fail to get into university.” It also says an “educated precariat” is emerging – graduates with insecure livelihoods and a negative return on investment in their degrees.