Did a successful fight against COVID-19 come at a cost? Impacts of the pandemic on employment outcomes in Vietnam

Despite its low middle-income status, Vietnam has been widely praised for its success in the fight against early waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a low mortality rate of approximately 100 deaths out of a population of less than 100 million by the end of 2020. We add to the emerging literature on COVID-19 effects on the labor market for poorer countries by analyzing rich individual-level data from Vietnam's Labor Force Surveys spanning 2015 to 2020. We find post-pandemic increases in unemployment and temporary layoff rates alongside decreases in employment quality. Monthly wages declined even as the proportion of workers receiving below-minimum wages substantially increased, contributing to shar-ply rising wage inequality. Our findings suggest that more resources should be allocated to protect vul-nerable workers, especially as the pandemic continues to cause increasingly severe damage to the global economy.(c) 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd.