The quality of Hanoi’s workforce is higher than the national average, but the city has not yet made full use of its workers’ skills. Commune-level officials and civil servants face heavy pressure as they implement the two-tier local government model.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Trần Đình Thiên, former director of the Việt Nam Institute of Economics, said Hanoi had an advantage in human resources because of its concentration of universities, research institutes, experts and entrepreneurs. The trained labour force reached 53.9 per cent in 2024, compared with 28.4 per cent nationally.
Thiên said qualifications were only the foundation. Hanoi needs sufficiently challenging and valuable jobs in design, research, product development, management and content creation. Without such opportunities, highly qualified workers cannot fully use their skills.
From 2015 to 2024, the number of Hanoi enterprises with production and business results increased by 56.7 per cent, while employment in the enterprise sector rose by only 19.9 per cent, from about 2.16 million to 2.59 million workers. Thiên said fewer employees per enterprise should not automatically be seen as negative because technology-adopting companies can create greater value with fewer workers.
Labour market
Data from the Hanoi Employment Service Centre show that about 30 per cent of job-fair positions require college, university or higher qualifications. About 40 per cent are for intermediate-level and technical workers, with the remainder for unskilled workers. The labour market needs both highly qualified staff and technical workers with practical skills.
Dr. Bùi Phương Đình, deputy director of the Academy of Public Administration and Governance, said Hanoi had about 4.2 million workers. Of these, 74.3 per cent had received training and 30.19 per cent held a university degree or higher. About 25 per cent of graduates and engineers worked in low-skilled jobs, while highly skilled technical workers were in short supply.
Employment cannot be measured simply by the number of people in work. More important is whether jobs match workers’ abilities and create value and opportunities for development.
From quantity to quality
Thiên said Hanoi needed to upgrade its enterprise sector to create quality jobs. Businesses turn knowledge, technology and skills into products, markets and income, so the city should support companies that operate substantively, grow and strengthen their capabilities.
Đình proposed a public-sector talent-management ecosystem covering identification and recruitment, remuneration, utilisation, training, performance evaluation and retention. Under the two-tier model, commune-level authorities handle about 1,475 state-management tasks, and officials must work under pressure and resolve new issues.
Recruitment should be standardised by job position and combined with negotiated remuneration. Capable individuals should lead key projects, while performance should be assessed through indicators linked to salaries and incentives. Hanoi could pilot about 10 task groups, each with a leader, a user of the results, resources, authority and a timeframe of 12 to 24 months.
Hanoi needs a space where knowledge meets missions, missions produce products and products find markets. Businesses need better access to data, infrastructure, premises, capital, technology and markets. Workers need jobs that use their knowledge, skills and experience.
With 53.9 per cent of its labour force trained and a large concentration of universities, research institutes and experts, Hanoi’s advantage depends not on the number of degree holders but on whether the city can turn that resource into productive, business and innovation capabilities.
Sources: Viet Nam News
