The 2018 Vietnam Annual Economic Report, entitled “Understanding the Labor Market for Productivity Enhancement”, focuses on Vietnam’s productivity in the international context, which highlights the need of understanding the labour market to elaborate on the quality of human resources and productivity in Vietnam.

Therefore, in addition to the overview of the world economy and Vietnam economy, the report presents an in-depth analysis of the characteristics of labour productivity change in the two decades of economic integration and analyzes some selected aspects of Vietnam's labour market in order to suggest both short and medium term relevant policies.

Speaking at the conference, VNU President Nguyễn Kim Sơn highly appreciated the constant efforts of the authors in conducting such a valuable research, contributing to the solving of the country's problems as well as raising the status and reputation of VNU and VNU UEB. In particular, the 2018 Vietnam Annual Economic Report focuses on the topic of the labour market, which is not only a matter of economics but also a problem affecting all the sectors of the country, including education, especially higher education.

The 2018 Vietnam Annual Economic Report comprises seven chapters and two appendices.

In addition to the overview of the world economy and Vietnam economy, the authors have made important remarks on the characteristics of labour productivity in Vietnam in the process of international economic integration; the relationship between minimum wage and labour productivity.

The report also studies the situation and motivations of the partners participating in the program of sending Vietnamese labourers abroad. The report provides two scenarios for Vietnam’s macroeconomic prospects in 2018 and detailed discussions of the current short-term policies. Vietnam Economic growth is expected to reach 6.83% in 2018, with an overall yearly inflation rate of 4.21%.

The Report received high appreciation from the review group and participants. Besides, experts also recommended some issues to be clarified, such as the shift in labour structure, minimum wage and wage policies for the labour market, factors affecting productivity increase.

The 2018 Vietnam Annual Economic Report was co-edited by Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Duc Thanh and Prof. Ohno Kenechi (Japan). The 2018 Vietnam Annual Economic Report consists of seven chapters and two appendices. Specifically as follows: Chapter 1: Overview of the World Economy in 2017 Chapter 2: Overview of the Vietnamese Economy in 2017 Chapter 3: Characteristics of Vietnam’s labour productivity in the process of international integration Chapter 4: The increase in wages and labour productivity in Vietnam Chapter 5: Labour market participation and occupational choices of Vietnamese youth Chapter 6: Productivity enhancement through international labour market integration Chapter 7: Vietnam’s 2018 Economic Prospects and Policy Implications The information and data were updated up to the end of December 2017; some key issues were updated up to the end of the 2018 first quarter. The full Vietnamese version is to be published in September 2018. The English version is to be published in late December 2018. Further information is available at website: www.vepr.org.vn