9CV9 Research | Vietnam Talent Intelligence 2026
Vietnam’s Talent Market 2026: Full Employment, Rising Wages, Scarce Skills
145 data points reveal a candidate-driven market where 52M+ workers, record FDI and an AI hiring boom collide with a 70% training gap.
145 StatisticsLabor & SalariesTech & AIManufacturing & FDI
1
The Labor Market at a Glance
Macro snapshot, 2025 data
53.3M
Labor force
Q3 2025
2.22%
Unemployment
Q4 2025, working-age
VND 8.4M
Avg monthly income
~US$325, Q3 2025
+58%
AI job postings
Growth in 2025
2
Demand Outruns Supply
Hiring intent and the Ho Chi Minh City talent gap
HCMC vacancies vs registered job seekers, 2025
Job vacancies registered~314,000
Job seekers registered~192,000
Vacancies nearly double registered job seekers.
Employer and worker sentiment
Businesses planning to hire, Q2 202557%
Workers planning a job change in 6 months64.8%
Workers ranking salary & benefits first58.7%
+20%
Job opportunities, year on year, Q2 2025
48.77%
Employer demand aged 27–35
6.5% / 9.6%
Voluntary turnover, multinationals / local firms, H1 2025
3
Salaries and the Pay Premium
Wage growth and who pays more
Pay premium vs peers (upper end of reported range)
Fintech PMs in HCMC vs banking20–30%
Multinationals vs local firms15–25%
Bilingual vs monolingual talent10–20%
Foreign-invested vs local private10–15%
Premiums come from separate surveys and are shown as reported. Bar length is proportional to the upper bound.
Wage momentum
+10.1%
Avg income growth, H1 2025 (VND 8.3M)
+7.2%
Regional minimum wage rise, Jan 2026
5–7%
2026 salary growth forecast; up to 8–10% in high-tech and digital
4
The Technology Talent Race
IT, data and AI hiring
150–200K
IT engineers short
Every year
+42.1%
Data / AI / ML jobs
Year on year, Q3 2025
+52.9%
English-language IT jobs
Year on year, Q3 2025
+36.1%
Python-skill jobs
Year on year, Q3 2025
IT workforce
Today (approx.)1.2M
2030 projection3M
AI market value
2024US$753M
2030 projectionUS$3.4B
Growing ~28% a year.
5
Manufacturing and FDI: The Hiring Engine
Where jobs are created
12M
Manufacturing workers
~23% of employment
68%
Factories recruiting
2025
US$38.4B
Registered FDI
2025
US$27.6B
Disbursed FDI
Highest in 5 years
4,054
New FDI projects licensed in 2025 (+20.1%)
US$4.8B
Singapore: largest 2025 investor (27.9%)
US$2.99/hr
Avg factory wage vs US$6.50 in China
6
The Skills Gap
Quantity is not the problem; qualification is
29.5%
Only 29.5% of workers held a formal training certificate in Q3 2025.
Over 70% of the workforce lacks formal training or certification.
Closing the gap
Professionals planning training in 202678%
Professionals prioritizing learning & CSR80%
IT graduates with job-ready skills~30%
7
What Candidates Want
Flexibility, purpose and growth
60%+
Prefer remote or hybrid
Post-pandemic
3 in 5
Prefer green employers
Environmentally responsible
64%
HR leaders prioritizing green skills
Vietnam
1/3
Workforce is Gen Z
Expected by 2025
8
Road to 2030
National targets that will shape hiring
2026
- US$50B digital economy projected
- ~16.5% of GDP from the digital economy
- US$5,000+ GDP per capita
- 100M consumers in the domestic market
- 1 Jan revised Employment Law takes effect
2030 targets
- 30% digital economy share of GDP (goal)
- 30% manufacturing share of GDP (goal)
- 2.2M logistics workers needed
- 90K renewable-energy jobs (ADB forecast)
- 50K semiconductor engineers targeted
9
What Employers Should Do
Recruitment playbook for 2026
Benchmark by roleBlanket salary budgets miss the premiums in AI, data and fintech.
Source proactivelyNearly two-thirds of workers are open to moving; always-on pipelines win.
Train to hireWith 70% uncertified, structured upskilling beats waiting for ready talent.
Sell flexibility and purposeHybrid options and career paths retain Gen Z better than one-off bonuses.