Economics

In Vietnam, the Best Education Can Lead to Worse Job Prospects

Unemployment among college graduates is highest in nation
Vietnam’s education system may slow future economic growth

Students leave after attending the first day of a national college entrance examination at Hanoi University of Science and Technology in Hanoi on July 1, 2015. More than one million high school students throughout the country attend the four-day-long exam starting on July 1. AFP PHOTO / HOANG DINH Nam (Photo credit should read HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/Getty Images)
Photographer: Hoang Dinh Nam/AFP via Getty Images

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By Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen

August 20, 2017 at 9:00 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Nguyen Van Duc graduated two years ago with a bachelor’s degree in economics from one of Vietnam’s best universities. Today, he earns about $250 a month as a motorbike taxi driver in Hanoi.

Duc, whose parents took second jobs so he could be the only one of three children to attend college, is among thousands of Vietnamese college graduates who can’t land jobs in their chosen field, even though the nation’s unemployment rate is just 2.3 percent.