On October 28, 2025, in Ho Chi Minh City, the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy (IDEA) organized a conference to enhance the capacity for applying and developing e-commerce. The conference took place against the backdrop of the country facing significant development opportunities, demanding a comprehensive breakthrough in the intellectual capacity, skills, and resilience of the younger generation to realize the aspiration for rapid and sustainable development.
At the conference, delegates unanimously agreed that Vietnam is entering a phase of accelerated growth and breakthroughs with the strategic goal of becoming a developing country with modern industry and high middle income by 2030, and a developed socialist country with high income by 2045. This is the "era of national progress," marking a comprehensive transformation in development thinking and national governance capacity. In this process, young human resources are identified as the core workforce, playing a key role in directly receiving, transforming, and leading innovative values, digital transformation, and science and technology. Investing in young human resources today is investing in the prosperous and sustainable future of the country.
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The current state of the young workforce: The advantages of a young population and the challenges it presents.
Analyzing the current situation at the conference, experts believe that Vietnam is relatively effectively leveraging its favorable demographic structure. By the end of 2023, young workers aged 15 to 35 accounted for over 50% of the total workforce nationwide. The higher education system continues to expand with 237 universities and academies and over 400 colleges, gradually innovating teaching methods towards a learner-centered approach. Notably, the startup ecosystem in education is clearly taking shape, with over 33,000 student startup projects recorded between 2020 and 2024, many of which have been successfully commercialized.
However, according to the general assessment at the conference, the quality of young human resources is still not commensurate with its potential. The percentage of workers with formal degrees and certificates is only about 27%, while training is not aligned with practical needs, and the imbalance between highly skilled and technically skilled workers remains common. Young human resources are also limited in soft skills, digital skills, critical thinking, and the ability to adapt to an international work environment. Notably, the mismatch between labor supply and demand is evident in the shortage of human resources in key sectors such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, biotechnology, and digital finance; The information technology sector alone is projected to face a shortage of 150,000 to 200,000 personnel by 2025. Employment challenges are also a significant concern, with youth unemployment reaching 7.63% in 2023, accounting for 41% of the total unemployed, while approximately 65% of the workforce remains in the informal sector under unstable conditions.
According to the delegates' analysis, the aforementioned limitations stem from the fact that training programs are still heavily focused on theory and lack close coordination between the State, schools, and businesses. In addition, the societal mindset still prioritizes academic degrees over professional skills, resulting in career guidance and training streaming not achieving the expected effectiveness.
Artificial intelligence – opportunities for a leap forward and new training requirements.
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A central theme of the conference was the discussion of artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on the labor market. Experts noted that AI has become a tool for creating significant economic value, with a global scale projected to reach $13 trillion by 2030. For Vietnam, AI opens up opportunities for a leap forward in many fields such as mobile payments, online education, and smart governance. In business operations, AI supports the optimization of recruitment processes, customer data analysis, production management, and the development of precision agriculture. However, the conference also frankly pointed out risks such as data bias, privacy violations, and the threat of misinformation, requiring the younger generation to be trained to properly understand and use AI as an effective support tool.
Orientation towards solutions for developing young human resources.
Based on a comprehensive assessment, delegates unanimously agreed on a set of synchronized solutions to develop young human resources in the coming period. The focus is on fundamentally reforming training programs to align with labor market needs; developing vocational education and digital skills; building an innovative startup ecosystem with policies supporting capital, talent incubation, and talent retention according to international competitive standards; and prioritizing investment in high-tech training programs, especially artificial intelligence and semiconductors, at key training institutions.
Concluding the conference, delegates affirmed that training and developing young human resources is a strategic task of decisive importance to the country's development in the era of national progress. Vietnam needs a young workforce that is not only professionally competent but also possesses courage, a desire to contribute, and a sense of social responsibility. The synchronized implementation of solutions, from reforming educational thinking to applying modern technologies such as AI, is expected to contribute to building a young workforce capable of assuming a central role in national development by 2045. At the end of the program, delegates participated in a hands-on practice session in the computer lab, thereby grasping the skills of content creation using AI, clearly demonstrating the spirit of "learning by doing."
