Q1 workforce up by 150,000Vietnam expects to have a total of 54.2 million people in the workforce in the first quarter of 2018, up 150,000 from last year’s final quarter, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA). The number of employed people hit 54.05 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, up 0.53 percent from the previous quarter and 1.21 percent year-on-year. The highest growth was recorded in manufacturing with an increase of 226,000 people, followed by construction, logistics and automotive repair and maintenance service industries. Meanwhile, the number of people working in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries saw the largest decline of 698,000 people from the same period of 2016. The number of unemployed was estimated at 749,000 people, up 6,700 from the third quarter of 2017 and unchanged year-on-year.-VNA