Business as usual scena

Former Deputy Minister of Transport Lã Ngọc Khuê. Photo laodong.vn Former Deputy Minister of Transport Lã Ngọc Khuê spoke to Lao động (Labour) newspaper about the feasibility of options to develop a North-South high-speed railway in Việt Nam. The Ministry of Transport has submitted a pre-feasibility study for the North-South high-speed railway project to Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc. According to the option proposed by the ministry, the railway would have a designed speed of up to 350km per hour and a practical speed of 320km per hour. The railway would be for carrying passengers only. What do you think about this? I don’t think this option is technically and economically feasible, plus it could pose risks to the North-South high-speed railway project. First of all, in terms of economics or investment efficiency, the transport ministry proposed the project with a total investment of about US$60 billion – a huge investment. The project will take a long time, which … [Read more...] about The North-South high-speed railway should be for both passengers and freight

More than 70 per cent of Việt Nam’s working-age women are in the labour force. Photo ILO Vietnam HÀ NỘI – With a remarkably high labour market participation rate, women in  Việt Nam face multiple and persistent labour market inequalities, and carry a disproportionate double burden of work and family responsibilities, researchers have revealed. A new research brief by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Việt Nam shows the COVID-19 pandemic has not only exacerbated existing inequalities but created new gender gaps. More than 70 per cent of Việt Nam’s working-age women are in the labour force, compared to the global level of 47.2 per cent and an average of 43.9 per cent in Asia and the Pacific. While the gender gap in labour force participation is narrower in Việt Nam than in the world, it has still stood at 9.5 percentage points (men’s rate higher than women’s) over the last decade. According to the research brief 'Gender and the labour market in Viet Nam: … [Read more...] about COVID-19 widens existing gender inequalities: ILO

In the last three months of 2020, women worked 0.8 percent more hours than in the same period in 2019, while men worked 0.6 percent more, it said in a new report. "Those employed women who worked longer hours than usual possibly wanted to make up for the income losses in the second quarter," Valentina Barcucci, ILO Vietnam labor economist, said. "Such additional hours made the double burden heavier to carry, as the time spent by women on household chores remained disproportionately high." Woman face multiple and persistent inequalities and carry a disproportionate double burden of work and family responsibilities, the report stressed. "They spend twice as many hours on household work than men." Women spend an average of 20.2 hours a week cleaning the house, washing clothes, cooking and shopping for the family, and family care and childcare, while men spend 10.7 hours. Nearly 20 percent of men do not spend any time on these activities at all. The report said more than 70 … [Read more...] about Covid-19 widens gender inequality at workplace: ILO Vietnam

Some of its investors include Singapore’s Vulpes Investment Management, and South Korea’s Nextrans and The Ventures. It had earlier raised $700,000 from angel investors, many of whom also continued to participate in this round of funding. By digitizing and centralizing data sources, Citics aims to create a real estate data platform to support real estate transactions, including real estate valuation, sales-purchase, lease, and mortgage. Citics was founded in November 2018 by the former CEO of real estate broker Cen Group’s southern Vietnam region, Tran Minh Long. Long was listed in Forbes ’s "30 under 30" list of entrepreneurs in 2018. Citics’s board of directors also includes two other faces from the "30 under 30" list – Nguyen Hai Ninh, founder and former CEO of Vietnamese coffee house chain The Coffee House, and Pham Anh Duc, founder of ViCare, a startup that provides information on hospitals, clinics, doctors, drugs and symptoms of diseases. Citics’s first application, … [Read more...] about Property technology startup bags $1 mln investment

Customers at a super market in HCM City. VNA/VNS Photo Mạnh Linh HCM CITY — The resurgence of COVID-19 has hit demand for consumer goods and services in HCM City, with revenues in February falling by 6.4 per cent, according to Government data. The Tết (Lunar New Year) holidays, usually the most lucrative period for the consumer market, were in February. Retail sales of consumer goods and service amounted to VNĐ110.6 trillion (US$4.78 billion), a year-on-year increase of 4.7 per cent, a report by the city Department of Industrial and Trade said. Sales of consumer goods were estimated at VNĐ69.9 trillion ($3.02 billion), a rise of 10.3 per cent compared to the same period last year but a decline of 5.9 per cent from the previous month. Catering, accommodation and travel services took a big hit from the pandemic. The resurgence of outbreaks in the city in late January with lockdown orders in some residential areas and fears of infection discouraged consumption. … [Read more...] about HCM City Tết consumption slumps