Haunted by unemployment after the COVID-19 pandemic, struggling to find a job in middle age

Unemployment in the post-COVID-19 period has been a nightmare for many workers. This is even more terrible when it comes to workers in their 50s.

In today's rapidly changing labor market, middle-aged workers face many challenges to survive in their jobs - Photo: Q.DINH

Staff cuts at many units have caused many middle-aged workers to suddenly lose their jobs.

The strong rise of artificial intelligence (AI) combined with young workers' superior advantages in foreign languages ​​and technology makes the opportunity for middle-aged workers to find a new job increasingly challenging.

Although he has been laid off for more than three months now, Mr. Duy (47 years old, living in Binh Tan district, Ho Chi Minh City) is still in shock.

He used to be the head of a food processing company with hundreds of workers, but for many years the company had financial difficulties and was forced to reduce production, lay off workers, and downsize the administrative department.

Middle-aged workers need to highlight the achievements and skills they have accumulated throughout their careers, show that they are constantly learning and accumulating new relationships to highlight their personal advantages.

Mr. LE THANH QUANG KHOI (human resources manager of a bank)

Waking up suddenly jobless

In November of last year, the company made another round of layoffs, involving a number of mid-level to key employees. Duy was one of them. He said he was still shocked when he woke up one morning to find out he was on the list of employees to be laid off.

"I know the company is in trouble but I'm still shocked, it's terrible," he sighed.

He has been searching for a new job for nearly two months, from searching for information on job websites, brokerage companies, job referral centers to sending out CVs everywhere but "still nowhere". There are many common difficulties but the biggest barrier for him is the age limit for recruitment.

Ms. TH (44 years old) who lives in Binh Chanh district (HCMC) said that her days of unemployment always felt like she was on the brink of the abyss. After many years working as a human resources manager at several different companies and corporations, now suddenly "falling into the pit" of unemployment, she could not accept the reality.

Ms. H. said that one day in September 2024, she suddenly received an email from the company informing her of her termination. Before, she was always the one to propose firing someone, so now she herself was fired, she said how could she bear it! Being a single mother was already difficult, and losing her job made her even more helpless.

"If I don't work, where will I get any income? The little savings I have for when I get sick will be gone one by one because of rent, milk, and school fees for my children. Just thinking about it makes me sad," Ms. H. said bitterly.

Relearning and re-doing are both challenges.

Having done well in both high school and university, Mr. T.Quang (43 years old, living in Ho Chi Minh City) quickly found a job at a bank right after graduating. During his good job, he even bought an apartment in Thu Duc City.

But since his marriage started to have problems, affecting his work, Quang kept having conflicts with his colleagues and superiors.

He admitted that his communication skills and English were only average. This indirectly led to him being on the list of personnel to be cut in 2024 due to not meeting KPIs and evaluations from superiors and colleagues.

Losing his job, he applied to many places and was accepted into a family company but only "survived" for a few months.

"The company said I worked slower than my younger colleagues, and that I was not as proficient in foreign languages ​​and technology, so they paid me less. Sometimes they even asked me to work overtime, even doing odd jobs. I knew the job market was very difficult, but I couldn't help but feel self-conscious, so I quit my job," Quang confided.

He and his friend are now pooling money to hire a tutor to teach him foreign languages ​​and computer skills, hoping to improve his future career. They chose to study privately because they have a family and young children and need a flexible schedule. At his age, it is difficult to learn as quickly as younger children, so studying together is awkward.

"In general, at this age, finding a new job or going back to school is difficult," Quang sighed.

According to data from the General Statistics Office, in 2024, there were more than 1 million unemployed people of working age, down 2.24% compared to 2023. In which, urban areas had a higher unemployment rate (2.5%) than rural areas (2%).

Also according to the General Statistics Office, about 52,800 enterprises registered to temporarily suspend business in January 2025, 12.6 times higher than the last month of 2024 and an increase of more than 20% over the same period last year.

The number of enterprises waiting and completing dissolution procedures this month also decreased by more than 5,500 units compared to the same period in 2024. In contrast, nearly 33,500 enterprises entered and re-entered the market, including 10,700 newly established and 22,000 units returning to operation.

Challenges must be faced and changed

From the perspective of an employer, Mr. Le Thanh Quang Khoi - HR manager at a bank - said that most businesses prioritize recruiting young employees. The reason is because it is easy to train in corporate culture, and their foreign language and technology skills are better than the previous generation, so they can be employed for a long time.

The foreign language and technology advantages of young workers make the job search opportunities of middle-aged workers even more challenging - Photo: C.TRIEU

From a training perspective, Dr. Le Duy Tan - International University, Ho Chi Minh City National University - said that even in the field of information technology that he teaches, the biggest problem for middle-aged workers is having to compete with young workers who have the ability to quickly absorb new technology, especially trends in AI, big data, cloud computing, in addition to foreign language skills.

Not only the IT industry, middle-aged workers in other industries always face challenges in a volatile market.

"Another problem is the 'Curse of 35' when technology companies tend to favor young, flexible teams, while older employees are often slow to innovate and have higher recruitment costs," said Dr. Duy Tan.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/am-anh-that-nghiep-tu-sau-dich-covid-19-lao-dao-tim-viec-o-tuoi-trung-nien-20250214231342456.htm